IN just a few short days, Sydney's Northern Beaches COVID cluster has gone from being a darkening cloud over a Christmas horizon to something closer to an East Coast Low.
With case numbers rising steadily, and the motorways out of Sydney clogged with holiday traffic, there are genuine fears that the coming week could turn into the coronavirus version of Tropical Cyclone Yasa, which devastated Fiji last week while spinning solid swells 3000km across the Pacific Ocean to re-start the erosion at Stockton.
Yesterday, the NSW government added another 30 locally acquired cases to the Sydney cluster, for a total of 72 active cases in the state.
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A known coronavirus carrier visited the McDonalds restaurant at Raymond Terrace last Tuesday: the one at the northern end of town, rather than the one on the highway at Heatherbrae.
Although testing and self-isolation are requested of anyone there between 11.45am and 12.15pm on Tuesday, the Hunter was not included in a series of new COVID restrictions that took effect on Saturday for Sydney and the Central Coast.
Even so, we have all learned this year how fast coronavirus can spread, so it will be no surprise if the government deems that harsher steps are necessary just days out from Christmas.
It is no exaggeration to say the cluster could not have come at a worse time.
At this time every year, the major highways heading out of Sydney are clogged with traffic: as popular as the south and inland NSW might be, most of the vehicles head north.
Not so long ago, many would have stopped somewhere between Doyalson and Sandgate for a feed and rest break before heading over the river at Hexham.
The Pacific Motorway means that Newcastle, as well as Raymond Terrace and Karuah, receive little holiday traffic beyond those who are staying in the area, but logic dictates that the virus could well end up in our midst before this episode plays out.
Unless the government orders a hard lockdown of Sydney, the exodus will continue.
Port Stephens appears to be losing holiday bookings already, and as previously the main policy pivot point will be between public safety and commerce.
Around the world, COVID numbers rise by more than 700,000 cases and 13,000 deaths a day, a reminder of what could befall us if some of the worst fears of Christmas and New Year days as "super spreaders" come to pass.
ISSUE: 39,495.
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