The relative freedoms we continue to enjoy in Canberra could quickly disappear if the ACT government hesitates too long before establishing a regional bubble with surrounding NSW towns.
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Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has said authorities are preparing to "hit the go button" on such an arrangement, though how it would work is unclear.
The intention would seem to be an attempt to isolate the capital and certain nearby places, like Queanbeyan, from areas affected by the worsening NSW coronavirus outbreak.
The ACT has done a remarkable job of keeping COVID-19 at bay, having now gone more than a year without recording a locally acquired case.
But it may be creeping closer to a return, with exposure sites identified in places like Goulburn and Marulan amid what the NSW Chief Health Officer has called "a national emergency" in Sydney.
As she held off on tightening restrictions with NSW, Ms Stephen-Smith on Friday indicated nearby community transmission of coronavirus could be a gamechanger.
But the ACT government should not wait until COVID-19 is seemingly bashing down our door because it may manage to slip through unnoticed before that happens.
While most people do the right thing and abide by restrictions put in place to protect them and their loved ones, it is fact of life that many do not.
Just look at the Sydney CBD, where thousands of protesters marched through the streets on Saturday and chanted for "freedom" from the harbour city's lockdown.
Irresponsible people like these do not care who they put at risk.
As long as case numbers in Sydney continue to climb and some there defy orders to stay home, the risk of COVID-19 spreading to regional NSW at rapid rates gets greater.
Canberrans travelling to regional areas would then risk contracting the virus and bringing it back here.
A bubble that permits movement between the ACT and a limited number of nearby places, plus those far removed and known to be free of COVID-19, is the way to go.
Closing down completely does not make sense when many people live a short distance across the border and work in the ACT, or vice versa.
The logistical requirements would create too much collateral damage anyway.
Criminal investigations, for example, would virtually cease if police were required to enforce a so-called hard border.
But sitting on our hands is not an option.
We must give ourselves the best chance of continuing to keep coronavirus out of Canberra, and that means further limiting the number of people coming and going.
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