Three and a half hours to the south, Melbourne and Mitchell Shire have not even reached the half-way mark of a six-week lockdown and the state's coronavirus case numbers remain off the charts.

Six and a bit hours to the north, Sydney is gripped by fear a similar tsunami of cases is headed its way from Melbourne via the border.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is taking no chances and decided to set up a frontline to keep COVID-19 out of her patch.

Unfortunately for us and other communities along the border we've been chosen as the point where her cavalry has been assembled to keep NSW virus-free.

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The cruel irony is Albury-Wodonga and other river towns have done what she and others have wanted during the pandemic.

We have followed the rules of social distancing with next to no cases, but we're taking the hit with a form of lockdown which doesn't exist in Sydney.

Confounding the anguish is rules being imposed on the run and tweaked when their folly is exposed.

The second round of border closures is without doubt having a bigger impact than the first.

Health services are in crisis, businesses are closing, schools urging students to stay at home.

The definition of unprecedented times changes by the week.

What must be kept firmly in mind is what happens if case numbers keep heading north in Melbourne and start accelerating in Sydney?

Without being alarmist, an even harder border lockdown can't be ruled out in what is without doubt the biggest health crisis this country has seen in a century.

What would be reassuring for a community in a heightened state of anxiety is a visit from those making monumental decisions encroaching on many aspects of daily life.

Being NSW Premier in a pandemic is a tough and busy job, but surely a visit down south is not a bridge too far if we are truly in this all together.