New Zealand doesn't have any neighbours though.

I think a better model to look at is Nova Scotia, which shares a land border with the rest of North America, and has thousands of citizens who regularly travel to and from other parts of the country for rotational work. There's been a high rate of compliance with public health orders, as well as strict quarantine rules. There's been a public mask mandate in place since August of 2020, and I've only seen one person in all that time not wearing a mask. All of those efforts have meant that NS has experienced much less Covid infection than almost anywhere else in North America. There are currently just over 200 active cases out of a population of about 1 million.

Covid is not going away, but it can be managed. The pandemic won't truly be over until we have a vaccine for kids though, because although most Nova Scotians have been compliant, we still have a sizeable chunk of the population who are too selfish and stupid to do their public duty, and get vaccinated.