Technology is helping bring people and ideas together even as social distancing has become the norm in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

The latest example was an hour-long remote panel discussion conducted on the Zoom video conferencing platform in La Conner Thursday afternoon.

Town, school and civic leaders logged on to share ways in which they are moving forward in the midst of a pandemic that has ground the economy to a halt.

One theme that emerged is those not laid off or furloughed at present are actually working harder outside their former job descriptions to deliver essential...