Albury-Wodonga and other Murray River towns contend with third border closure

The twin cities and other Murray River communities including Yarrawonga-Mulwala and Cobram-Barooga are again the shield to keep COVID-19 and its deadly Delta strain out.

For a second time, the Victorian government has pulled the trigger and sadly, it didn't have any alternative.

NSW's daily cases spiked to more than 100 as predicted by Premier Gladys Berejiklian, and two fresh incidents south of the border, meant the border was slammed shut.

The one saving grace for Abury-Wodonga and the other river towns is the border bubble remains in place and locals can freely move across the border for work, school, medical appointments and the like at present.

The bubble's creation and subsequent expansion is testament to the great work of many.

But as witnessed last year when the situation in Victoria escalated out of control, the chances of the border closure extending to months rather than weeks can't be discounted.

Our COVID normal of earlier this year has suddenly gone.

Unfortunately there will be casualties, but the present arrangements of a soft and targeted closure is a way better alternative to the hard border closure witnessed 12 months ago.

An early one has been the Albury-Wodonga Eisteddfod which confirmed at the weekend its primary and secondary schools competitions, due to start this week, had been postponed to mid-Auugst.

There will also be some nervousness among organisers of the Winery Walkabout, who had to postpone the event from its traditional Queen's Birthday weekend timeslot to later this month due to the most recent Victorian statewide lockdown.

Cross-border sporting competitions including football-netball leagues and soccer are also on edge with finals less than two months away.

But, we need to ride the bumps, rise up and get the jab.

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