Perhaps it's a form of confirmation bias. We want the pandemic to be over so we'll say it is. On this, the anniversary of the Ruby Princess debacle, it pays to remind ourselves we have not seen the back of COVID-19. Far from it.
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Certainly, much has changed in our understanding of the novel coronavirus and our strategies to keep a lid on it. We have vastly improved our contact tracing. Albeit sluggishly, we have begun to get the vaccine out to people at the head of the queue - the frontline health workers, the vulnerable and the elderly.
There's no way now that we'd even entertain the idea of a cruise ship packed full of passengers heading off into the uncharted waters of a global pandemic as we did a year ago. And we certainly wouldn't let everyone off the ship once they returned.
A cursory glance around the globe shows we are not free of the virus and we are definitely not in a post-COVID world. France is entering a fresh lockdown, the US is watching an alarming uptick in infections and Brazil is at breaking point, with a new variant killing people faster than they can be buried.
The talk is not of second waves but third and even fourth waves. And, disturbingly, a growing proportion of victims requiring hospital care are young people.
While it's easy to pour scorn on state premiers for jumping straight into lockdown when a case of the highly contagious UK variant leaks out of quarantine or hospital, that strategy reflects an abundance of caution that has so far kept Australia from lurching into disaster.
Those dark days of a year ago - the stand downs, the remote learning, the cancelled holidays, the grim leader board of infections and deaths - seem so distant now. All of us made huge sacrifices and lifestyle adjustments to get here. The last thing we want or need is for complacency and a false sense of security to land us back there.
Sure, it is disappointing when festivals are cancelled or travel plans thrown into turmoil by snap lockdowns. But the alternative is much worse. So we need to view the easing of restrictions with caution. It might not be mandatory any more to wear masks on public transport but it is good public health practice to continue doing so. It might be lawful to go into a packed pub for a schooner but wouldn't it be safer to enjoy that drink outside in the beer garden?
It is simply too early to throw caution to the wind.
