PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian says the new additions to the fight against Delta - the 9pm to 5am curfew in 12 Sydney local government areas and the statewide mandatory wearing of masks when outside - are a result of not enough people taking COVID compliance seriously enough.
That's true as far as it goes, and it may be that the individual examples of coronavirus stupidity highlighted each day by the police are just the tip of a far bigger iceberg of recalcitrance.
But the reality is that the Berejiklian government moved too slowly at the start of the Sydney outbreak, ignoring calls for a Victorian-style, "go early and go hard" response.
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As a result, her government is playing catch-up, with NSW as a whole suffering as a result.
We will see over the weekend whether Sydney case numbers continue to climb, or whether this outbreak starts to plateau in the 600s.
Either way, the Greater Sydney lockdown has been extended until the end of September.
The western NSW outbreaks are a concern, but here in the Hunter the positives are gratifyingly low.
Hunter New England Health public health physician Dr David Durrheim has repeatedly stressed since March last year that the virus will only come to this region if someone brings it.
Yesterday, Dr Durrheim confirmed that someone at the still-to-open Costco store site at Boolaroo had tested positive.
Costco confirmed the worker had been unwell at work and infected two others.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the worker had "done the wrong thing" and Dr Durrheim said that for the public good, it was time for employers to "think very carefully about the origin of their workforce".
Employers who say such things are easier said than done have a point.
Most people work because they need to.
The government assistance programs applying this time around are helping but ultimately nothing replaces a job.
As well as people coming to the Hunter to work, there are plenty of this region's residents employed in Sydney.
Short of physical enforcements against travel, some risk of transmission will remain.
The quickest way through this, then, is for all of us to follow the now-familiar rules.
Rising vaccination rates also promise some friendly light at the end of this tunnel.
ISSUE: 39,649
