Updated at 2:05 p.m.

George Valentine, deputy director of the Office of Legal Counsel within the District of Columbia's mayoral office, died Friday of the coronavirus, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said.

Valentine, a Harvard Law graduate and a former deputy attorney general for the District of Columbia, was admitted to an area hospital on Wednesday. He had spent more than 16 years in the attorney general's office before moving to the mayor's staff, said Bowser.

At the attorney general's office, Valentine headed the civil litigation division and was credited with developing a community dispute resolution program to resolve lawsuits against the district through mediation. Valentine had been serving in the mayor's office since March 2019.

"It's devastating for everybody of course, and we're very sorry," Bowser said in a Friday press conference. Bowser said her office was now notifying staff members who may have been in contact with Valentine recently.

Bowser said Valentine had been working in the mayor's office and that "we are working on the contract tracing as we speak."

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine said in a statement Friday:

"All of us at the Office of the Attorney General are devastated to learn that George Valentine has passed away after a battle with COVID-19. George was a wonderful person and a committed member of the community who dedicated more than two decades of his career to public service in District government, including at OAG as Deputy Attorney General for our Civil Litigation Division and most recently as Deputy Director for the Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel. His work and leadership has left an indelible mark on his colleagues and the District. We send our deepest condolences to George's family and join them in remembering an admirable man whose life ended far too early."

Hogan Lovells partner Neal Katyal said in a statement on Twitter: "George Valentine was my 1st legal boss, when I was a college intern. I knew no lawyers, my family knew no lawyers (&hated them) but he watched out for me b/c he knew that's what I wanted to be. So sad."

Washington, D.C., has reported 267 cases of the novel coronavirus and three deaths, Bowser said.

Across the country, more than 1,300 deaths have been attributed to COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. More than 91,000 cases of infection have been reported.