"A remote option can coexist perfectly well with in-person meetings. After all, Zoom — and its remote technology cousins like Facebook Live and YouTube Live — will never be a complete substitute for the real thing, especially for journalists, as Bob Ambrogi, executive director of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association, told lawmakers at a hearing earlier this month.

"'Yes, they can see them on a Zoom, but no, they cannot walk up to them afterward, engage with them and talk to them and converse with them in that way,' he said.

"But 'there is no reason to move backwards from this new era of public access,' he added in a statement later.

"No reason at all — and every reason to preserve this newfound means of making government more transparent and more accessible.

"There was a time when what should be 'the people's business' was too often conducted in smoke-filled rooms. Well, the smoke may have cleared, but the requirements of the Open Meeting Law remain a source of frequent tugging and pulling. Adding a new level of transparency is long overdue. Now it can be a rare pandemic bonus."