PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The coronavirus pandemic delivered a body blow to Main Street America, and small business districts are still reeling as stores and restaurants lost more than half their business to shutdowns and fears.

"It's getting better but it's still very slow. A lot of elderly not going out, hoping to get their vaccines," said Cindy Split of Split Personality Consignment.

Jim Totin's business at Totin's Diner in Wexford is off by about a half-million dollars this year, still suffering from capacity restrictions and those still-reluctant customers. The once-bustling lunchtime rush now fills less than half the tables.

"It's been tough on my family. It's been tough on my employees' families. Everybody took a major, major hit," he said.

Early on in the pandemic, the region lost 200,000 jobs. Though most of them have come back, about 78,000 haven't returned, most in the leisure and hospitality sectors of the economy.

Many restaurants and stores have already fallen by the wayside and those that do spring back may find it hard to fill positions. Estimates are about 50,000 workers in our region have given up and left the workforce.

"Retired early, many remain at home. A lot of our workers are students who have come back. Some industries are going to have a difficult time re-hiring very quickly," said Pitt researcher Chris Briem.

But some like waitress and single mom Melissa Ference had no choice but to try to press on. After the shutdowns and delays in unemployment, she's back working but customers are far fewer and the tips hard to live on.

"There were times I didn't even know how I going to feed my kids," Ference said.

Cindy Split says her mission is to survive another day and hang on until the pandemic ends.

"That's all you can do, survive and cling on to that hope," she said.