Yakima hospital CEO says next two weeks will be critical: 'The worst of this pandemic is ahead of us'

 Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital officials and medical staff warned last month that if daily life continued as usual in the Yakima Valley amid the expanding coronavirus pandemic, the hospital would be overwhelmed by April 8. They pleaded with community members to stay at home. Staff had already been stockpiling supplies, ventilators and personal protective equipment to prepare for the surge of people suffering from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.