We are hearing and seeing from all over the world the truly terrible effects of this COVID-19 disease.

To keep the public safe, populations must be isolated. But prioritising the needs of the many means the individual suffers.

This virus has taken a mental, emotional, economic and physical toll on us all.

As we watch businesses falter and economies collapse, it feels as though prevention may be worse than the illness.

Imagine also how our young people facing a key year of their school life must be feeling.

Completing year 12 in 2020 is bringing challenges no one could have foreseen.

Students have told The Border Mail about the difficulties arising from remote learning, not seeing friends regularly and missing the usual milestones attached to the end of formal education.

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As Catholic College Wodonga co-captain James McKenzie-McHarg points out "year 12 is such an end of an era".

"I miss seeing everyone and I miss catching up with the year level as a whole," he said.

Students on both sides of the border endured the first round of home learning, but the North East has been hit doubly hard with Victoria's second stint.

And in towns like Rutherglen, until recently not part of the border blue zone, students and teachers have been stranded by the border closure, a scenario not experienced in the capital cities.

It is to the credit of our school communities and family support that many of the teenagers have adapted quickly and made the best of the situation.

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Victoria has now started a long, cautious road back from the nation's toughest restrictions and with that slowly comes a return to normal schooling, relatively speaking.

We hope our year 12 students, as they prepare for exams and beyond, are able to put those past worries behind them, focus on the present and look to the future.

And even, fingers crossed, find time to celebrate their great achievements over six years of secondary schooling.