Taylor Williams, a graduate of Parkersburg South High School, at the Swedish Hospital in Issaquah, Wash. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — A Parkersburg South High School graduate is at the front lines of the war against the pandemic in Washington State.

Taylor Williams, a traveling nurse, is working at Swedish Hospital in Issaquah, Wash., in the coronavirus unit established there. While the infections were not as quick as New York, she has seen numerous patients who have contracted the virus.

“Ours didn’t go up quite as fast,” she said.

A nursing home at Kirkland, Wash., the Life Care Center, in early March was at the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States before it started spreading across the nation. More than three dozen patients at the home have died.

Kirkland is about seven miles east of Seattle as the crow flies over Lake Washington. Issaquah is about 15 miles east of Seattle.

Taylor Williams, far right standing, and her fellow nurses and respiratory therapists at Swedish Hospital in Issaquah, Wash. Williams is the daughter of Doug and Vicki Williams of Washington, W.Va., and the granddaughter of Jim Rankin and Patsy Rankin and Kenny Williams of Parkersburg. (Photo Provided)

Swedish Hospital started seeing patients that tested positive, but had not traveled outside the area, Williams said.

“We knew it was spreading within the community,” she said.

Williams, a soccer standout at Parkersburg South, arrived in Washington in January before the pandemic.

She wanted to go to Washington for the outdoors of the Pacific Northwest.

“I like to go places where I can go outside and hike,” she said.

But that hasn’t been possible, she said. All the hiking areas and parks have been shut down because of the pandemic, Williams said.

Her first assignment at the hospital was at an out-patient oncology clinic. Williams was then transferred to the inpatient coronavirus section at Swedish hospital.

“I was out here when the virus hit,” she said.

Her contract at the hospital ends in June. Hopefully, the pandemic ends before that.

Williams is the daughter of Doug and Vicki Williams of Washington, W.Va., and the granddaughter of Jim Rankin and Patsy Rankin and Kenny Williams of Parkersburg.

Williams, who was named to the West Virginia High School Soccer Coaches Association AAA Girls All-State Soccer First Team, graduated in 2012 from Parkersburg South and the West Virginia University School of Nursing in 2016.

Her sisters also played sports at Parkersburg South. Kasey was involved in track and field and volleyball. Erin in December set a school-record of 10 3-pointers in a basketball game.

Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com.