As the pandemic winds down, there’s one thing Americans, and Mainers, can agree on: We’re all tired of it, including the restrictions, the debates and the gulfs that have opened up, neighbor to neighbor, and not least within families.

Even our Canadian neighbors have seen street protests, but they’re now receding, nor should we forget that their far more restrictive policies resulted in a death rate one-third of ours.

Fatigue shouldn’t be allowed to distract us, however, from defining the sense of normality we’ll soon have in our public spaces, though the virus will be with us awhile longer.

Some restrictions will still apply, while others can be loosened; with the waning of the third, and possibly last wave, people just aren’t willing to wait much longer.

In that spirit, when the Legislative Council meets next week, it should fully open the State House on an everyday basis.

So far the council, with its 6-4 Democratic majority, has been deciding month to month, with a few in-person session days, and all committee proceedings online.

March is the next opportunity to change that, and the council should, for the deficits of a continued online model are just as evident for legislators as they are for public school classes, which have largely returned to in-person learning.

This is the third year Maine lawmakers have struggled. The shutdown of business in 2020 was unavoidable, even though hundreds of bills vanished without a vote.

The mostly online “long” session of a new Legislature last year prompted dissent from Republicans and some Democrats, yet it was hard to argue — with vaccines just becoming available — that continued isolation wasn’t justified.

This year’s a different story. Many legislatures are meeting with few restrictions, and the limits Maine has chosen are harder to justify. If the omicron variant is still a threat, it’s more likely to spread when all legislators, staff, and public are gathered in a few spaces, rather than committee rooms where access is more easily controlled.

And behind the scenes, committee chairs have expressed growing frustration over an inability to gather their members in one place, face-to-face.

To understand this concern, one has to dig a little deeper into the legislative process, and how it works.

Most important bills attract varying and often conflicting views from the public, lobbyists and lawmakers themselves.

That’s why such bills are before the Legislature in the first place: They represent a perceived need to change policy by amending the laws, something the system makes deliberately difficult, but shouldn’t be impossible.

Without being able to read the nuances in a room, it’s hard to determine which compromises and amendments will fly, and — more to the point — which make sense, and may actually solve the problem at hand.

The initial enthusiasm for online hearings has waned; with some exceptions, such as the tribal sovereignty bill heard Tuesday, public participation is often lacking. While online input can and should continue, it’s not a replacement for the ability to meet and talk with one’s elected representative — a unique benefit in a citizen legislature.

While there are relatively few bills still on the docket, some major proposals, on housing, education and the budget remain to go before committees. And the all-important work sessions, make-or-break for countless proposals, will continue throughout March.

After three years of disruptions, it would be good to end the session on a positive note, especially since a special session after spring adjournment is unlikely.

The State House feels like, and is, a relatively safe place. Compliance with masking requirements, once contentious, is close to universal, and can continue.

Individual lawmakers and staff can gain excellent protection through vaccines, and most have.

All that remains is for those who have emphasized the risks of the virus to shift course, just a bit. With restaurants and theaters now open, it’s hard to justify keeping the State House in a modified shutdown.

And if lawmakers can get back to their workplace, perhaps those in the Executive Branch can, too. Most state employees are still working from home, and instructions about reopening have been vague.

Following abandonment of reopening plans last October, it’s been hard to convince department heads — who, according to Gov. Janet Mills’s previous orders, will make the decision — that the coast is clear.

With a two-month lead time for returning on most departmental agendas, the time to start the clock ticking is now.

There will never be a single moment the pandemic ends, but these are workable steps leaders can take to restore frayed ties, and begin to bridge the many gaps the pandemic has created among us.

Douglas Rooks, a Maine editor, commentator and reporter since 1984, is the author of three books. His first, “Statesman: George Mitchell and the Art of the Possible,” is now out in paperback.  He welcomes comment at: drooks@tds.net

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