With Australia's international borders functionally closed for months and countless holiday plans scuppered or amended dramatically, here in the Hunter we can count ourselves truly lucky that so many aspects of life have returned to normal.

But those who were able to enjoy the weekend sunshine along Bathers Way and in other areas received a rude shock on Monday about exactly how close to home the pandemic's disruption can still strike.

In our region we have been fortunate enough to see very little community transition.

It is easy to sympathise with those 3000 people in the nine Melbourne towers who have been suddenly and forcibly urged to remain in their homes due to that state's ongoing woes with the virus.

Today will mark the closure of the NSW-Victorian border, a measure taken in the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic.

It is a compelling reminder that the Hunter's good fortune is as much luck as good management, although health authorities should be credited with the latter.

This remains a threat that can propagate quickly, and appears one that is likely with us indefinitely.

Comparisons of coronavirus with other contagions, including the flu, fail to recognise that the spread of coronavirus recorded globally has come in spite of truly unprecedented measures to halt it.

How that tally would look if it had been treated as a normal flu, without social distancing or the lockdowns that have reshaped our economy, is a prospect few would relish exploring.

While Victorians are closed within their houses, hundreds have been able to gather in the Hunter for a second Black Lives Matter protest.

Despite conjecture to the contrary, health authorities said there was little evidence the first protests contributed to the growth of coronavirus numbers.

Organisers deserve credit for that, yet it is equally important that the risk of gathering in large groups is understood and treated with the caution and reverence it deserves at every instance.

There is no margin for error.

For much of the year Victoria and NSW have been in lockstep in fighting the virus, and there are more similarities than differences in the states' responses.

There can be no resting on laurels given the very real prospect of a second wave is not going anywhere soon.

The price of freedom has famously been explained as eternal vigilance.

That has never been more true than in a pandemic where fortunes can change in an instant quickly cost lives among our most vulnerable.

How long the closure of our southern border must remain is as unclear as anything else about the pandemic beyond the immediate restrictions it requires.

When it began few expected us to be so close to normal at this stage of July.

Hopefully we can prevent a less pleasant surprise in the months ahead.

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here

IN OTHER NEWS: