THE emergence of a new round of coronavirus cases - even if the numbers are low at the moment - is the very last thing that NSW needed just a week out from Christmas.
Although work is still being done to trace the path of the virus, it appears likely that community transmission began with someone working in or around Sydney airport.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said yesterday that NSW was taking the majority of Australia's returning travellers, with about 5000 expatriates returning each week.
Australia has no real choice in this regard. Indeed, we are obliged as a nation to bring home as many of our fellow citizens as possible.
The inherently difficult trick is to do this without re-introducing the virus into the community, something easier said than done, as the whole world now knows.
No one should need reminding how quickly a handful of cases can turn into tens, and then hundreds, and then thousands, as happened in Victoria between June and October, when case numbers went from single digits to more than 600 a day in nine weeks, before tapering off at the speed with which they'd increased.
To the relief of all, South Australia's Parafield cluster was nowhere near as bad as Victoria's.
Until this outbreak on Sydney's Northern Beaches, it seemed increasingly likely that Australia would make it to 2021 without another cluster, and, just as importantly, another lockdown.
Wastewater monitoring from the area involved has been interpreted to mean that the outbreak is very new: even though the virus has made it into the community, the authorities may be able to nip it in the bud.
The return of restrictions in the week before Christmas would be a terrible blow.
If case numbers continue to rise, the Berejiklian government will find itself in an invidious position, caught between the ultimate need to keep people safe, and the desire to interfere as little as possible with both the celebratory and commercial sides of Christmas and the summer holidays.
A look at the numbers - fewer than 30,000 of 74 million reported cases - shows how fortunate Australia has been.
Across the northern hemisphere, COVID is the Grinch to a Christmas that will offer little joy to many this year. On Tuesday, a record 13,998 people were recorded as COVID deaths.
The vaccines are on their way, but normality - in whatever shape it takes - is most likely still a year, if not two, away.
ISSUE: 39,493.
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