Regional Victoria welcomes back vaccinated Sydneysiders from today, but one border community worries it could be "bad news".
The reopening was delayed twice due to vaccination rates in the regions lagging behind targets.
Albury-Wodonga has seen high vaccine uptake but it is still in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak, with about 800 active cases across the twin cities.
NSW Health reported two more COVID deaths for Albury today — a man in his 70s and woman aged 101.
Both were fully vaccinated and had underlying health conditions.
They acquired their infections at the Mercy Place aged care facility in Albury, taking the death toll linked to an outbreak at the facility to five.
Border health services are already struggling to keep up with testing demand as more and more schools are listed as exposure sites.
There are fears testing needs will increase if case numbers escalate in the wake of the regions opening up.
"There's a sense of trepidation here given that we're still going through a significant outbreak ourselves," Albury City Mayor Kevin Mack said.
'I think we are the guinea pigs'
Today is also the day fully vaccinated Victorians outside the border bubble can travel to NSW without a declaration or being subject to stay-at-home orders, provided they have not been to a place of high concern.
Fully vaccinated Australians in other countries can also finally return home from today.
While case numbers are on the rise in Albury-Wodonga, it is not locked down.
"I think we are the guinea pigs for the regions at the moment," Cr Mack said.
"In some ways I understand that, because the regions of Australia need to get back to some sort of COVID normal.
CHO says sorry
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant visited the border on Friday and apologised to the community for poor communication during the current outbreak, particularly in regard to schools.
"I apologise to anyone who had confusing messages," she said.
Cr Mack said support for beleaguered Albury-Wodonga businesses had also been patchy.
"When the schools are locked down like they have in the last two weeks, that's parents that aren't going to work," he said.
"We need decent economic stimulus."
Testing slump causes concern
Daily COVID-19 numbers have dropped slightly on the border recently — on Sunday there were 19 news cases in Wodonga and 16 new cases in Albury.
But Albury Wodonga Health said it was still too early to get excited and called for higher testing numbers.
"We do have some concern about the low or significant drop in numbers we have seen between Friday and Saturday," executive director of public health Lucie Shanahan said.
Her comments coincide with today's arrival of 30,000 rapid antigen tests in the region.
"It'll give us some sort of indication of where we're at," Cr Mack said.
