Lithgow deserves kudos for the way it handled the pandemic, it is a testament to the selflessness and sticktoitiveness of the Lithgow community.
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Largely, outside of the early days, the Lithgow area and the larger Blue Mountains Health District has been without any confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic broke out roughly nine months ago.
This is impressive when you consider Lithgow is the place many pass through on their way over the mountains, bringing scores of people from areas that were designated hotspots.
In the last four weeks, the Blue Mountains Local Health District tested 18,889 residents which is a rate of 48 tests per 1000 people. These numbers are pretty great, but it's worth remembering that another case could happen at any time and to not get complacent.
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I know a lot of us, myself included feel that things will suddenly change when the clock strikes midnight on January 31, but of course that isn't the case. Until a widely-tested vaccine becomes available, our lives will remain affected.
And who knows, given another pandemic could happen at any time, maybe we're already living in the 'new normal' as they say.
But more than the pandemic - lord knows we've heard about it enough - is the way that the Lithgow community got behind its own. In a time of uncertainty and financial and emotional hardship, it was great to see a refocusing on local support.
Whether that was dining out - or ordering in - from your favourite restaurant, opting to buy gifts locally instead of online or becoming a Mercury online subscriber. There were many ways people helped out when others needed it, and it was wonderful to see.
As we look back at the year, it'd be easy to focus on the negatives and the 'what-could-have-beens', that's okay too, but it's just as important to remember the good that came from this. The reset of sorts that 2020 offered.
Hopefully this continues into 2021, in what I'm sure will be the best year yet for Lithgow.
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