The appearance of a new case associated with a quarantine hotel the day after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian foreshadowed further easing of restrictions is yet another reminder this virus hasn't gone away.

While Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he wasn't too concerned about the new locally acquired case, he did voice misgivings about the growing complacency afoot in the general community.

We've all seen it: the people who walk past the hand sanitiser when entering a store; the queue stalkers who can't help but enter your 1.5-metre exclusion zone; the coughers, the sneezers, the huggers and the air-kissers.

Our two basic human instincts - to be social and tactile - at times seem to menacing the good work so many have done to keep this virus under control. And with the festive season upon us, things are bound to get even riskier.

We'll be handling more products in stores, shopping in more crowded supermarkets, getting merry in pubs and restaurants, tippsily letting our guard down. Most of us, anyway.

Call me the Grinch but I'll go easy on the Christmas spirit this year and I don't mean cutting back on the booze - I gave that up almost two years ago. I'll be sticking to the small family bubble that's been in place since March. There'll be no shouty get-togethers with friends or colleagues. We've managed remote working excellently and can extend it across the holiday season. And, as for friends, there's been so much phone contact, we can certainly get through a few more months without face to face time.

Christmas shopping has been strictly local this year. Purchases from shops hit hard by fire, flood and pandemic double the joy of giving. Avoiding the stress of the big mall with its maddening Christmas music and grumpy shoppers is a COVID dividend I never reckoned on.

So, too, is avoiding the psycho "We must catch up for drinks before Christmas" routine. Guilt-free, I can now spend my evenings on my timetable with social distancing and hygiene as get out of jail cards.

Seriously, though, Christmas should not get in the way of caution. The virus is still out there and we should not forget it.