More Images

NEW YORK—A noted rise in COVID-19 cases in their regions are a concern among the ECP respondents of Wave 16 of Jobson's Coronavirus Survey, conducted Oct. 16 through 20 by Jobson Research. At the same time, 30 percent of respondents reported their optical sales for this month were about the same compared to the prior year's October while another 27 percent said they were experiencing higher sales this month than last year. Thirty nine percent reported their profitability was on a par with last year at this time while 27 percent said their profitability was higher.




Overall, there was a good trend in ECPs' maintaining or improving their "capture" rates with patients who stayed to purchase products and vision care solutions. In the Wave 16 survey, 41 percent said their capture rate was equivalent this year to last year at this time while 35 percent said they were experiencing a higher proportion of patients.

In another portion of the survey, ECPs underscored the huge uptick in patients reporting vision care issues due to increased screen time. Seventy-one percent reported this uptick in the Oct. 16 to 20 period, Wave 16, compared to 64 percent who said so in a prior Aug. 21-27 period, likely due to the return to school, including a return to remote learning and work from home as well. This was true for both children and adults, the Coronavirus Survey indicated.

Also in the latest survey, there was a jump among respondents reporting an increase in COVID-19 cases in their local areas—this jumped to 61 percent reporting an increase, compared to only 30 percent saying that in the August and September survey Waves.

Click to view a PDF of the full survey results.