IT certainly feels like it is now just a matter of time until we see the Bathurst region's first known COVID-19 case in more than 15 months.
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Our region has done as well as anywhere in the country at keeping coronavirus at bay but two incidents in the past few days have rightly got people concerned.
In the first, it is alleged three removalists knew they were COVID-positive when they travelled through Lithgow, Bathurst and Orange on their way to Molong last week.
If that's the case then it simply your biggest belief that anyone could be so reckless.
After all the hard work our community has put in over such a long period to keep our region safe it is infuriating to think it could all be put at risk so easily.
But It is not just people knowingly doing the wrong thing that could potentially spread the virus, such is the threat from this new variant.
Even people simply going about the region doing their job can unwittingly be bringing the virus to our region and that should be a far greater concern for us all.
The BP truck stop at Raglan [pictured] has been identified as an exposure site and that has implications for the whole community.
Anyone who visited the truck stop between 7pm-7.30pm on Tuesday, July 13; 7pm-7.45 pm on Wednesday, July 14; 7.15pm-7.45 pm on Thursday, July 15; and 7pm-7.30 pm on Friday, July 16 has been asked to get tested immediately and isolate until NSW Health provides further information.
We hope those tests will all come back negative but this time round the risk is real.
At the same time, though, we cannot allow ourselves to become unnecessarily fearful.
This is a time for vigilance and is a time for us to make good decisions, both as individuals and as a community.
Long lines at a COVID testing clinic on Mount Panorama on Monday morning should give us hope that this community is taking this situation seriously and doing what we can to keep ourselves and our neighbours safe.
Keep wearing your mask, keep sanitising your hands and keep your distance from each other when in public. Where possible, just stay at home until the outlook is a little brighter.
We've been through this before and we know what it takes to stop the virus spreading but that will only happen if we all play our part - now, more than ever.
What do you think?
- Why not write us a letter to the editor ...