Oahu residents, weary of COVID-19 restrictions, can greet the arrival of Tier 2 status with a sigh of relief — as long as they don’t exhale completely.

After an alarming spike of cases in late summer, the City and County of Honolulu cracked down on the spread of the coronavirus by ratcheting back permitted opportunities to gather, although not quite to the same lockdown level as in the initial pandemic response last spring.

Today, with the approval of Gov. David Ige, Oahu’s rules have been loosened a bit, allowing, for instance, groups of five unrelated persons to have dine-in service at restaurants, not only those from the same household.

It hasn’t passed unnoticed that the change happened just in time to allow the newly restarted tourism industry to offer a bit more of a vacation experience to visitors who began arriving in the islands one week ago. Helicopter tours at 50% capacity are now allowed, as well as various attractions, to name other examples of how the rules have relaxed.

Further, legal short-term rentals also may welcome guests now. The emphasis should be on the term “legal.” The pandemic has been punishing for many livelihoods, but there’s no justification for ignoring the county laws.

For kamaaina as well, there are some welcome additions to the can-do list, including salons and fitness facilities and classes.

For a population that’s had the past four weeks with fewer options for daily activities, this is a more liveable array of choices, at least for the month or more of Tier 2.

And there’s where the danger lies. As rules for pandemic behavior become more liveable, temptation to resume life as we knew it pre-coronavirus — normal rather than “new normal” — starts to mount.

Oahu residents, in particular, already should have learned that complacency cannot end well. The state’s initial response to fight COVID-19 comprised a harsh initial lockdown followed by steps toward economic activity. The infection rate dropped to the low single digits.

Once people lapsed into a casual attitude about social gatherings, though, the infection rate climbed steadily, finally peaking on Aug. 12 at 353, statewide. The threat to the state’s hospital system is what scared everyone straight.

Yes, there were other factors that contributed to the backsliding: a contact tracing effort that was not equal to the task, a need for better intervention with communities for whom quarantine was a hardship.

But it really does fall to people as individuals and members of households to adopt the only practices available to avoid the disease. Sanitation. Social distancing. Avoiding gatherings, especially in enclosed spaces. And wearing facial coverings to suppress the spread of the virus.

Without these practices, as everyone has seen, the virus would have no problem pushing the infection caseload back up and forcing Oahu to retreat again.

As the holiday season looms, it’s now especially important to stay on track, and this means redefining what holiday celebrations can mean. Halloween is around the bend, and a Tier 2 version of the celebration precludes anything more than the smallest (five or fewer) gathering of friends.

The hope is to advance forward, rather than backward, because the earliest possible rank-up to Tier 3 would come right before Thanksgiving. If average case counts for two weeks can be kept below 50 with less than a 2.5% positive-test rate, that would permit gatherings of up to 10.

Hitting that mark, especially with the resumption of tourism, might be a reach. But the call of Turkey Day — and the holidays beyond that — should provide all the incentive Hawaii residents should need.