That was his plan this week as Victoria moved to 20 days without a coronavirus case - we can only hope that does not change.

Ask people what they would like as a present for this good behaviour and permission to take off masks will be at the top of a lot of lists.

It is expected the restrictions will only be eased for people when they are outside and can socially distance, which is very sensible.

This snippet of information, dropped by Mr Andrews when he visited Whitfield this week, was also a clever way of talking around the fact that he was saying "no" to giving border communities an exemption from wearing masks.

The direct question in the press conference was if he would consider supporting calls from Wodonga for a "border bubble" when it comes to masks, so residents did not make the more comfortable decision to take their business across the river to Albury.

The mask rules are exactly what is stopping what the premier was trying to encourage this week - people spending money in regional Victoria.

That issue was skipped over so Mr Andrews could get to what would be a more well-received answer about a statewide easing of mask restrictions.

After finally getting Melbourne and regional Victoria on almost the same restrictions, the premier is unlikely to split the state into border and non-border communities when it comes to masks - this means cities like Wodonga will again be the ones to cop the extra pain.

The only silver lining for Wodonga this week has been the complete booking out of hotel rooms on Sunday night, as Victorians get as close to the NSW border before they are finally allowed across on Monday morning.

"Hopefully they spend some money in Wodonga and go out for dinner," Trystan Maciulis, of Motel Wellington on High Street, said.

After all the unintended consequences of restrictions, the city certainly deserves a break.