Louisiana State Treasurer John Schroder has been released from the hospital after being treated for symptoms related to COVID-19.

Schroder, who went home late Friday, said in a statement that he's feeling much better. He called healthcare workers "the true heroes of this pandemic."

As chairman of the State Bond Commission, Schroder did not say if he will participate in the panel's final meeting of the year on Dec. 17.

For most of this year, bond commission meetings have been held via Zoom video conference due to the pandemic. They are also broadcast on the Louisiana Legislature's website.

"I want to thank the doctors and nurses who cared for me," he said. “I am happy to be back home with my family and look forward to returning to work at the state capitol in the new year."

Schroder tested positive for the coronavirus shortly before Thanksgiving and recently required treatment for breathing difficulties, his office announced Dec. 3. His office didn't say when he went into the hospital.

The treasurer's office said an announcement about Schroder's illness was released to the public because he had to cancel meetings and step away from directly overseeing the state's $262.3 million Main Street Recovery Program offering small businesses stimulus funding.

Schroder, 59, thanked well-wishers for their prayers and kind words.

"Please continue to pray for all those battling this horrible disease," he said.

Louisiana, like most of the country, is seeing a sharp increase in new cases of the highly contagious respiratory disease.

The Louisiana Department of Health reported on its COVID-19 dashboard Monday that the state had 3,939 new daily positive cases of the virus for a total of 251,123. Another 36 deaths brought the total fatalities to 6,584. Some 1,392 people were in hospitals with the virus and 162 were on ventilators.

On Nov. 24, Gov. John Bel Edwards said that an "aggressive third surge of COVID-19" across the state made it necessary for him to impose tighter mitigation measures to protect public health.

Edwards issued a proclamation requiring most businesses to reduce indoor capacity to 50% with social distancing, decreasing gathering sizes for events and reception centers to 25% capacity, limiting indoor consumption at many bars and urging everyone to avoid gatherings with people outside of their everyday households.

Edwards continued Louisiana’s statewide mask mandate that's been in place since mid-July. He also encouraged businesses that can allow employees to work remotely to do so, and directed all state agencies to do the same.