17 Senate staff members of Gordon test positive for COVID-19

Senator Richard Gordon on Tuesday bared that more than a dozen members of his staff had tested positive for COVID-19.

"I was exposed and I was really terrified because my wife Kate is really immunocompromised. I had practically 17 people, staff and security—all are in quarantine right now,"  Gordon said during the session at the Senate.

Forty-five other employees of the Philippine Red Cross, which Gordon chairs, also got infected with the virus, according to the senator's office. Most of them were medical technicians.

"This disease, we really really have to respect. Don't take any chances, stay home," Gordon said.

Prior to Gordon's announcement, at least 16 other employees of the Senate and three senators already tested positive for COVID-19.

Last July 18, Gordon said he, his wife, and their household staff got themselves tested after his "immediate" staff at the Senate and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) tested positive for

He and his household tested negative, but still decided to go into a self-imposed home isolation. -MDM, GMA News