BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — Governor John Bel Edwards and Secretary Don Pierson of Louisiana Economic Development announced the opening of an LED help desk that provides email and hotline support for Louisiana businesses impacted by COVID-19.

For COVID-19 business questions, LED can be reached at LEDbiz@la.gov or by phone at (833) 457-0531.

The COVID-19 hotline is staffed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mon. – Fri.

High call volumes may result in delays. Callers are encouraged to keep trying, leave a voice mail or contact LED via email, according to the Governor’s office.

For Louisiana businesses seeking federal financial assistance, they are encouraged first to contact the U.S. Small Business Administration at SBA.gov/Disaster to apply for COVID-19 disaster aid.

The SBA Customer Service Center can be reached at (800) 659-2955, with an additional TTY line for the hearing-impaired at (800) 877-8339.

Louisiana has experienced the fastest rate of increase for confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world, and it is imperative that everyone in our state take part in the efforts to slow the spread of this disease. Businesses are making tremendous sacrifices to slow the spread, and resources are available to help businesses navigate this crisis. If your business has questions, please make use of the resources that Louisiana Economic Development has made available to you.

Gov. Edwards

This LED help desk is the latest of our efforts to serve Louisiana businesses and to help them sustain operations through the challenges presented by COVID-19. At our website — OpportunityLouisiana.com/covid19 — you’ll find many additional resources for COVID-19 business assistance. We encourage you to use them, and we thank our many partners across Louisiana for their dedicated support of our efforts.

Secretary Pierson