"The sweet spot" was the way the ACT's chief health officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, summed up the biggest challenge facing governments across Australia in just a few words on the weekend.
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She was referring to the level of restrictions needed to stop COVID-19 spreading on the one hand, while allowing the greatest possible level of economic activity on the other.
"I'm not quite sure at what level of restrictions will be the point at which we reach that sweet spot where we can balance the public health risk but also keep society going," she said.
Noting it may prove necessary to move the "sweet spot" from time to time, Dr Coleman said: "It's going to be an interesting journey".
Her comments, coming as they do when Victoria is already dealing with an out of control "second wave" outbreak that has led to the whole of Melbourne going back into lockdown, and which now appears to have spread to NSW, highlight an unfortunate truth.
That is that it is going to be harder for Australia to put the coronavirus genie back in its bottle the second time round. This is because, after months of doing the right thing, many Australians are suffering a bad case of coronavirus fatigue.
More and more people are, to borrow a phrase, simply "over this". When shops, and pubs, and clubs started reopening on a large scale many people took a deep breath and said to themselves "job done". It was Australia's "mission accomplished" moment.
Unfortunately people spoke too soon.
The virus was still out there in the community just waiting for the chance to come back when Australia dropped its guard.
The price of liberty from COVID-19 is truly eternal vigilance.
The challenge for all of our governments is that after having passed the test posed by the initial wave of infections, they are dealing with an increasingly exhausted, frustrated, and in some cases angry, population. The sense of community that sustained us in March, April, and May, is proving harder and harder to maintain.
Business people, many of whom are just beginning to get back on their feet, now live in fear of being forced to close their doors again.
This has already happened in Victoria. It remains to be seen if NSW will begin to reimpose tougher restrictions as well.
One unfortunate side effect of this fear and anxiety has been the vilification on social media of the ACT residents who tested positive to coronavirus after returning from what later proved to be "the hot zone" in Victoria.
What happened to them, with the greatest respect, could have happened to anybody. They certainly didn't cross the Murray with the intention of catching the virus and then giving it a ticket to ride back to the ACT.
They have actually done the right thing by getting tested once they developed symptoms and then going into self-isolation.
If, instead of praising people for doing the right thing, members of the public criticise them for being victims of a highly infectious disease, there is a real risk some of those who do develop symptoms won't get tested and that, as Dr Coleman puts it, the disease would go "underground".
That is the last thing anybody wants. As we have seen in Victoria, the key to beating this is to test for cases and, once they are identified, to isolate the victims until they are no longer infectious. Nothing less will bring this back under control.
Considered and decisive action by all levels of government is more important right now than ever before.
It is up to our leaders to provide clear communication, continued support, and to encourage the highest possible level of social cohesion as the situation evolves.