But this final week of the year is feeling very familiar.

A few months ago we were scared of people from Melbourne coming to the Border, wondering how long we were going to get stuck at checkpoints on the Hume Freeway and watching drama unfold as the Storm were not made welcome by Albury Council.

Now the threat is from the north, but there are plenty of similarities.

Albury's Hapi dumpling bar and Public House have been two of the first in the region to ask people who have been to Sydney to not dine in at their restaurants.

Meanwhile NBL teams Sydney Kings and The Hawks have made Albury their temporary home - albeit with a lot less pushback than Melbourne Storm received earlier in the year.

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Like their rugby league counterparts, they have to meet strict coronavirus protocol in order to play professional sport and relocate to Albury, so their presence and business at Border restaurants is something we should welcome.

But it is understandable that some businesses would want to protect their employees and not have people from Sydney for the short-term.

If there is anything we have learned from the similar situation in Melbourne, it is to be kind and not demonise all Sydneysiders - they have been through enough already.

The lesson from all this familiarity is that the virus and all the pain that goes with it will sadly not be over when the calendar switches over to 2021.

Albury Northside Chamber of Commerce deputy chair Barry Young made the good point that "businesses need to be on top of their COVID-safety plans now and that extra measure is not a bad thing".

Business recovery, new cases, and time spent figuring out how to keep adjusting our lives will continue next year.

That means we have to keep supporting each other and our business community to get through this to the point the issues will eventually not come back around again.