One day we will see on the news that a positive case has been detected in Tasmania and a flurry of contact tracing will identify all the premises that person recently visited, and show up all the things we could have and should have done better.

If we re-commit to always applying stringent hygiene practices, we might just manage to limit the size of this future outbreak and contain the virus again.

Inconvenient yes, but our COVID-safe status has been hard-won and has been at the expense of people's lives and livelihoods.

It's too valuable to throw away due to carelessness or complacency.

Keeping Tasmania COVID-free depends on every Tasmanian, and all of our interstate visitors, living the new normal every day.

BARRY Prismall's article (Sunday Examiner, October 25) on the results of bypassing Tasmania's historic small towns has, at last, belled the cat. We are bypassing the very places that make Tasmania the tourist haven we wish for.

Does Tasmania really want to be one big road so you can drive from one end of the state to another faster - for what purpose?

We still have a big stretch of water between us and the mainland! It's certainly not safer, look at our road toll.

So thank you Barry - at last someone who sees what is happening to our special island.

MIGHT be a little slow, but they finally came through. I posted a birthday card with a gift voucher to my daughter in Batemans Bay, NSW, early June 2019. She received it on October 23, we were both surprised.

Thank you.

THEO Bakker (The Examiner, October 24) is rightly concerned that greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced globally.

He will be pleased to hear that our Australian Energy Market Operator has joined with power system operators from Denmark, Ireland, the UK and the US to support Indonesia as it integrates a bonanza of incoming solar energy into its grid.

The consortium also hopes to unlock more than US$10 trillion of private sector investment and move the world toward greater than 50 per cent reduction in power-sector emissions over 10 years.

So, although our federal government cannot concentrate on two things at once, Australians are quietly helping lead the way.

SMALL Business Minister Sarah Courtney says that the names of businesses that shared more than $26 million in taxpayer-funded grants will not be revealed (The Examiner, October 27). Apart from a couple of ridiculous excuses, she wouldn't say why.

Surely the answer isn't that the majority of businesses that were approved are Liberal Party donors, and those that were rejected are not donors?

Has the minister the courage to truthfully say if these are, or not the reasons why the names will not be made public?

IN response to your editorial on the CBD's future (The Examiner, October 27), you are right that a modern CBD is about more than just shopping. It is about creating a place where people like to live, visit, eat and interact. You are also right that working to build a vibrant and successful CBD will take collaboration between us at Cityprom and other groups such as government, business and cultural groups.

It is important, however, to recognise that not only is Launceston better placed than many other regional cities around the country, but also new businesses and services are opening all the time in our CBD. Over the past three months, a dozen new businesses have either opened or moved to new, expanded premises, despite the pandemic. These range from hospitality, food, retail and personal services to IT, antiques and art. Our CBD is far from dead. Yes, it is changing, and yes, we face many of the same challenges that other regional cities face, but Launceston remains a vibrant home to an increasing number of locally-owned and unique enterprises that we can be proud of.

Let's ensure we all work together to support these businesses and encourage new activities and experiences to help us become one of the great regional cities of the world.

IT would be great to create a more welcoming environment in Launceston's CBD to start with, more undercover areas as Tasmania is known for its weather and getting into town in the rain is inconvenient due to the cover in CBD. It would be amazing to see a supermarket in the CBD like Aldi or Costco or even a food source that we don't see often in Tasmania like Nandos, Oporto etc.

Another opportunity for one of the vacant shops that I know being a young mum would create great revenue would be a cafe, salon, anything that would have a designated kids space where they can play and be occupied so that mums can relax and do something for themselves.

Whether it be an enclosed little play gym or a book corner, it would be great to see.

There is so much potential for the CBD to be great but more variety, free timed parking and undercover areas need to be introduced before I start shopping there again.