The region's public health director isn't waiting for a second, or third, wave of COVID-19 - instead his team is focused on identifying and putting out any "spot fires" or "hot spots" before it comes to that.
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And, just as the Illawarra community helped to flatten the curve when cases started their climb in March/ April, Curtis Gregory is again calling on their help to stay vigilant as restrictions ease.
The number of COVID positive cases in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District has remained stable at 116 for several weeks with no local transmission.
However today that figure has risen to 117 due to a resident who's returned from overseas and been in hotel quarantine in Sydney testing positive for the virus on Thursday.
The vast majority of patients (114) have now recovered from the virus with none left being cared for in hospital.
Sadly the two remaining residents with confirmed cases have died from COVID complications - a 75-year-old man who died in Wollongong Hospital's intensive care unit on April 3 and a woman who died in a Sydney hospital in March.
It's a stark reminder of how deadly this virus is, and how we all have a part to play in keeping our community safe.
"We know because we're in a pandemic and because COVID spreads so quickly that we're going to get additional cases," Mr Gregory said.
"We are concerned about restrictions lifting - not because of the additional freedom people will have, but we're worried about people becoming complacent when undertaking those activities.
"We need people to maintain their current level of precaution - to keep heeding the social distancing rules, cough and sneeze etiquette, good hand hygiene and staying home if sick.
"That's how we'll continue to provide the safest environment for everyone in the community while phasing back into using social and public spaces."
The key to keeping ahead of the curve was to maintain high rates of testing - at special assessment clinics at Wollongong, Shellharbour and Shoalhaven hospitals, and at private testing facilities. Anyone with any cold or flu-like symptoms - cough, runny nose, sore throat, fever or shortness of breath - is encouraged to book in.
"Over 20,000 people in this region have been tested so far - that's more than five per cent of our population," Mr Gregory said.
"And the message is to keep getting tested so we as a public health unit can maintain a clear picture of what might be happening in the community.
"We're especially looking for unknown sources of community transmission and we're monitoring for spot fires, hot spots and outbreaks so we can get right onto them.
"We now have the capacity to scale up our response very quickly and provide a rapid response if we have a clustering of cases - and get people into care or isolation and break the transmission in the community."
There's been talk of a second or third wave - a peak - perhaps as early as June/ July. Yet Mr Gregory said the district's public health unit is working to keep ahead of the curve.
"We've moved away from the idea of a peak - what we're expecting is to see a sporadic number of community cases with possible outbreaks," he said.
"When you start heading to a peak, it's about heightening the response to get to a plateau and then dip -similar to what we did in March and April.
"It's about working hard to suppress the peak as much as we can, to protect the public and ensure there's the capacity in our hospital's intensive care units to deal with demand.
"We wouldn't have been able to do that without the incredible response from the community which has already shown we can do this - we can each make a difference. Let's keep it up."
While the public health unit's job includes identifying cases, undertaking contract tracing and monitoring positive cases and their close contacts in the community - the work within the region's hospitals to prepare for COVID has also been intensive.
Staff training - in the use of personal protective equipment and in caring for COVID patients in dedicated wards and ICUs - has been ongoing across the district since the threat began.
At Wollongong Hospital there's been the rapid set-up of wards and ICUs for COVID patients with negative room pressure (to stop air escaping), as well as a special room in the emergency department to deal with suspected cases.
And that has included a massive boost in supplies and equipment - everything from face masks to ventilators.
ISLHD Executive Director Clinical Operations Margaret Martin said as elective surgery ramps back up, the health district remained focused on its COVID response.
"It's been an amazing few months," she said. "The amount of work staff have put in to be ready for this pandemic is staggering.
"And we're very mindful as restrictions are loosened of the need to maintain the same level of preparedness.
"It's a balance between getting back to business as usual with some elective surgery, and keeping our ability to be agile and flexible to deal with any COVID admissions.
"There's an underlying level of readiness so if we do start to see a rise in COVID cases, we can surge up our capacity to cater for them within hours."
While the district - and the nation - have not seen the devastating loss and huge number of cases as in many overseas countries, what they have seen has helped them prepare for any eventuality.
"We're fortunate not to have the experience of many other countries," Ms Martin said.
"However there's still uncertainty over what we might see in the coming months."
Ms Martin said staff had learnt from the overseas experience, had been in touch with colleagues in countries including the UK and they'd also learnt from their own experience.
"We have had to care for seriously ill patients in our COVID ICU and wards - and I think one of the things that really distressed staff was the fact that these patients were not allowed visitors, were not allowed their loved ones by their side," she said.
"So something we quickly set up was organising iPads so patients could be electronically connected to their families, so they didn't feel so alone
"So it was things like these that shape the way we manage patients into the future."
There remains visitor restrictions in place at ISLHD facilities, and these are under review, but for now infection control is key.
Ms Martin also encouraged community members with any symptoms to get tested.
"Only through ongoing community testing can we gain a clear picture of what's happening out in the community and if there's any community transmission."
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