Jim Decker, president and chief executive officer of the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry, is right about one thing — government alone will not help Warren County businesses climb out of the hole the COVID-19 pandemic has placed them in.

Government can assist, and it will be interesting to see if Democrats in Washington, D.C., put your money where their mouth is regarding additional state and local aid.

Federal stimulus may help, but the onus really is on us to bring our economy back to pre-COVID levels. Decker figures local businesses will be dealing with restrictions for at least the first half of the year, and maybe into Thanksgiving. That makes it almost 18 months that our small businesses will have been dealing with COVID-related limitations on gathering numbers, the impact of COVID on tourism and the increasing reliance on Amazon and other online retailers.

Businesses can take it upon themselves to keep tabs on assistance programs at the various levels of government, enhance their online presence and market themselves to as many customers as possible. Consumer behavior is changing, and our businesses must change with the times.

If they don’t, downtowns like Warren’s will only be a memory.