Oahu community concern about COVID-19 ratcheted up to high gear last week when the number of daily new infections broke the three-digit threshold.

That is as it should be — since allowing a case count exceeding 100, as it did multiple times, will quickly push pandemic restrictions here back to Tier 1 from the current Tier 2. These are rules that communities find intolerably constraining on the social interactions that are so much a part of Hawaii life.

But those restrictions can be necessary, when infection spikes persist for too long, to keep from overwhelming the fragile state’s health-care system. It’s particularly perilous for an island state where the next available fully staffed hospital is several hours away by air, and so Honolulu officials need to apply even more caution than in many other U.S. metropolitan areas.

Even so, it simply will not do to keep bouncing back and forth between a careless, relaxed state and anything approaching a lockdown. It erodes public willingness to comply, especially as the socially intensive holiday season approaches, and, critically, is toxic to the local economy.

Employers simply cannot sustain an endless wait for the business environment to stabilize, and too many of them already have been shuttered for good, under the strain.

A middle path must be found, one in which a robust level of social and economic activity can be sustained, without tipping Oahu into dangerous territory that threatens public health.

The City and County of Honolulu launched its current four-tier guidance for response to the pandemic in August, the last time there was a sustained surge of COVID-19 cases. It’s a much more finely tuned instrument for assessing the penetration of the virus into the community while keeping economy and health in balance.

Unfortunately, the indicators are not pointing in the direction everyone had wanted, heading into the holiday season. The elevated case count pushed the rolling average well above the 50-or-lower ceiling for case counts to achieve the more expansive Tier 3. The testing positivity rate is too high, too, a signal that the disease is spreading across the community.

So the onus is on the community to follow the directive to socially distance, keep gatherings among those from different households to five or fewer, wash hands and wear face coverings when in public.

On that last point, it would be wise for Gov. David Ige to sharpen the directive by consolidating the various county mask mandates into one unified message, with a clarified set of rules. This would help eliminate some of the guesswork that visitors must make as they move from island to island.

It also would allow for fewer departures from the rules that kamaaina sometimes make as well. Wearing a mask can be tiresome, everyone would agree, but it’s a relatively small concession to make to public health, enabling most activities to continue over the long months before a vaccine can be widely distributed.

Without a doubt, businesses will need more support to make it through. The federal CARES Act money enacted soon after lockdowns began nationwide last spring will lapse by year’s end.

The city has been trying to accelerate the distribution of its own funds for businesses, which have been bogged down by paperwork. One means is through the new “Back on the Wave” program, launched last week. The funding is aimed to help businesses create a COVID-safe environment so that its services can continue.

The city and state must continue encouraging innovations by business that enable uninterrupted operations. So far, for example, bars and lounges still are not slated to reopen until at least Tier 4. It’s hard to see how a tourism economy is resurrected without it, and how these establishments can hang on.

There should be a way to allow at least limited operations under an adjusted business model, perhaps one that involves food service through partnerships between the pub and separate food services.

Beyond such programs, of course, there are many individuals and businesses that could use a replenishment of funding support and stimulus checks. That would hinge on an agreement within the halls of Congress — an elusive achievement during these politically divisive times.

The U.S. Senate’s majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has said a new package could make its way to the president’s desk during the “lame-duck” post-election session. But there are still major disagreements between the GOP- and Democratic-controlled chambers.

For the good of the country, negotiators must get past such hurdles to settle on relief that at least prioritizes struggling businesses and households, many of which are still waiting for unemployment benefits. Hawaii’s congressional delegation certainly see the economic pain locally and must press hard with that effort.

In the end, however, the task of managing our lives during the pandemic falls to Hawaii’s residents and businesses, all of them already informed about what they need to do: Keep the coronavirus from spreading.