Eli Schwartzberg shows a bedroom at the then-new Champlain Valley Senior Community in June 2013. (Enterprise photo — Chris Knight)

The owner of a Willsboro assisted living facility now facing a deadly coronavirus outbreak says he doesn’t know how the virus entered the facility. He said it happened just before residents were expected to receive vaccines after weeks of waiting for doses.

The outbreak at Champlain Valley Senior Community was first discovered after a staff member tested positive on Dec. 30, 2020, according to owner Eli Schwartzberg. Schwartzberg grew up in Saranac Lake and established CVSC inside the former Willsboro school building in 2013.

Visitors have been barred from the facility for weeks, even before the first case was found. All of the facility’s residents and staff are tested twice per week, Schwartzberg said. CVSC’s staff have been wearing full personal protective equipment and are adhering to what he called “strict” infection control protocols, including following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their personal lives.

Every time a person arrives at work, they’re screened for symptoms or any sign of illness, according to Schwartzberg. If they show signs of an illness, they’re not allowed into the facility.

But screening for symptoms can only do so much. A recent model by CDC researchers shows that the coronavirus is spread more than half of the time by people who aren’t experiencing symptoms. Public health officials have also said that people can be contagious before they experience any symptoms. The incubation period for the coronavirus — the amount of time it takes after an exposure, before a person starts experiencing symptoms — ranges anywhere from two to 14 days. Most people start experiencing symptoms five to six days after an exposure.

In the four weeks since the first case was identified at CVSC, 15 other staff members and 23 residents have tested positive for COVID-19. Two residents have died.

“CVSC does not know how the virus entered the facility,” Schwartzberg wrote in a statement.

An investigation into how the virus entered the facility would likely be the responsibility of the state Department of Health, which regulates the home, rather than the Essex County Health Department.

“To say we are devastated by this outbreak would be an understatement. We have all worked so hard month after month, only to have the virus enter our building and spread quickly through our population right before we were scheduled for vaccination,” Schwartzberg said. “We are doing everything we can to contain the virus’ spread while still ensuring that our resident population is well cared for.

“We closely monitor all residents for any signs or symptoms of illness as well as changes in behavior,” he added. “We remain in close communication with each resident’s physician and all of our resident families to keep them updated on what’s going on inside our building. Any resident requiring medical attention is being transferred to the hospital for treatment.”

CVSC has access to rapid test kits from the county health department, allowing the facility to quickly test residents or staff who show signs of having COVID-19. The most recent round of tests found two COVID-positive residents and one positive staff member. That’s fewer cases than were discovered in previous rounds of testing, so Schwartzberg pointed to that as a good sign.

“We are hopeful that the worst is behind us given the sharp decline in positive cases from last week,” he said. “It shows that our infection control measures are working, and we are optimistic that our efforts will continue to stop the spread and rid our community of this virus.”

“Our staffing levels remain strong, and both our residents and staff are in good spirits despite the situation we are dealing with,” Schwartzberg added. “We continue to be in close contact with our residents’ families as well as the Department of Health to ensure everyone has the most accurate and up-to-date information. We will not rest until our facility is COVID-free.”

This is the second fatal COVID-19 outbreak at a senior home in Essex County. The first was at the Essex Center, a nursing home and rehabilitation center in Elizabethtown where 16 residents died after the virus spread throughout the facility, starting in August 2020. That outbreak happened after three COVID-positive employees, who were asymptomatic, continued working inside the facility for weeks without knowing they had tested positive more than two weeks prior — the positive results of their tests took 19 days to come back. That outbreak wasn’t detected until one of the home’s residents died, prompting officials to launch a mass-testing effort that uncovered the full scope of the virus spread.