WHEN Prime Minister Scott Morrison fronted the cameras last week to discuss the spike in Melbourne's coronavirus cases, he wheeled out one of his folksy one-liners to say "we are all Victorians now".
Queensland commentators, especially, were predictably quick with their outrage, even if the PM was really only trying to encourage the nation to band together no matter what COVID-19 throws at us.
Unfortunately, however, his words have taken on a darker significance, with health officials saying genomic testing of coronavirus samples had shown a Melbourne man was the "likely" progenitor of the outbreak spreading from the Crossroads Hotel near Liverpool in Sydney's western suburbs.
In this light, Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery has done the region a favour by disclosing that people have been driving to Newcastle to be swabbed, rather than face long queues for testing in Sydney.
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Hunter New England Health has played down Ms Hornery's claims, saying that only a handful of people had given Sydney addresses when being tested at John Hunter Hospital and the University of Newcastle.
But NSW Health advertises a dozen testing places in the Hunter, and the eight Central Coast sites may well be hosting a similar influx.
Some might have been looking for "negative" certification, but others presumably worried they were COVID-positive.
Either way, some probably stopped at shops or cafes along the way, raising the risk of rightly-feared "community transmission".
Scientific consensus says this a very, very contagious virus.
NSW officials say some of the Crossroads cluster took as little as a day to develop symptoms.
Hunter New England Health district recorded its first case in early March.
The latest total is 281, with 25 active.
On recent experience, we will soon learn whether we have another wave on our hands in this region.
Regardless of what happens, we all have a role to play in trying to keep the virus at bay.
Expecting the worst but working for the best means not surrendering to mass infection as though it's inevitable.
Even with this spike in infections, Australia's COVID-19 total is mercifully low, in global terms.
The latest figures on Thursday night were 13.5 million infections and more than 584,000 deaths.
With common sense, active hygiene, social distancing and whatever lockdowns are needed, we can hopefully keep it that way.
And more testing sites in Sydney would help nearby regions including the Hunter.
ISSUE: 39,362.
