On the trip's blue ribbon day, we took in a show at the Princess Theatre. At the interval we strolled down Spring Street for a delightful meal at an Italian restaurant before grabbing a beer at The Hotel Windsor on the way back in.

It was another day of suffering in fully vaccinated hell - at least as far the anti-vaccination/anti-mandate crowd beating drums at Parliament House across the road were concerned.

There really is no such things as COVID-normal.

This week we witnessed the extraordinary saga of Pat Cummins captain being ruled out of the Adelaide Test despite being double-vaccinated and returning a negative PCR test.

In NSW, the likes if Tom Trbojevic and Nathan Cleary have been forced into isolation, despite being double-vaccinated, after a positive case arose at a pre-season Origin camp.

The Knights won't train again this year after a player tested positive for the virus and case numbers in Newcastle climb as a result of the Argyle Nightclub 'super-spread'.

The Illawarra Hawks parted ways with import Travis Trice before he'd even arrived in Australia over his anti-vaccination stance. New Zealand did the same with marquee man Tai Webster.

Western Australia's hard border stance has cost the state an Ashes Test and left its A-League franchise Perth Glory in exile and subject to harsh quarantine protocols in Queensland.

They're not challenges unique to Australia.

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On Monday, the NFL hit a single day record of 36 players testing positive for the virus, whole the NBA was this week forced postponed two games after 10 Chicago Bulls players were placed into health and safety protocols.

In one of the more highly-publicised instances, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving's level of superstardom has not insulated him from the impacts of the pandemic.

In Australia, governing bodies have more to worry about than a few fringe vaccination holdouts. Judging by certainsocial media posts - there are those who consider themselves something akin to Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and Oskar Schindler rolled into one.

With the arrival of the Omicron variant coinciding with the easing of restrictions - some states setting a quicker pace than others - athletes picking up the virus is simply inevitable.

NSW recorded 2213 new cases on Thursday, an unprecedented figure.

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Health minister Brad Hazzard this week suggested the number could climb as high as 25,000 a day by the end of January (a scenario since disputed in some scientific quarters).

They're confronting numbers for a populace still accustomed to measuring the virus in terms of case numbers rather than hospitalisations and severity of illness.

While vaccination was, and is, the key response to the broader public health crisis, it's becoming crystal clear it's no panacea when it comes to professional sport.

We were perhaps naive to think it would be. While there remains light at the end of it, the tunnel is much longer than we anticipated as far as sport goes.

This columnist has sat unashamedly in the 'suck it up' camp when it came to athletes living in COVID bubbles, but that view always had an expiration date.

In mixing with the public, the chances of catching the virus are obviously much higher.

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Coaches and clubs can ask players to minimise risk by avoiding the more hazzardous events and venues. Beyond that, athletes can't be expected to spend more time subject to suffocating biosecurity protocols.

This pandemic has made a habit of defying all manner of predictions - most particularly those of its demise.

Perhaps the only thing more unpredictable is the approach different state governments take in dealing with the virus.

What's clear is that fans, athletes and governing bodies should divest themselves of any notion we were coming out the other side in 2022.

Quite the opposite, we should brace for a year even more disrupted and chaotic than the previous two.