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NEW YORK—COVID-19 case counts trending upward throughout the U.S. had little impact on the eyecare business, according to the latest Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker for the week ending Oct. 18. Following a slight downturn during the previous week, Oct. 5 to 11, optical sales over this past week, Oct. 12 to 18, remained flat across the board, with the only negligible change occurring in contact lens sales, which declined only -1 index point nationally last week.

This is all while the total number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpassed 8.1 million, deaths reached 220,000, and daily case counts throughout the country were above 50,000 over the past week, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 

Regional optical sales were negligibly affected by record-breaking daily COVID-19 case counts posted by 19 states and increasing numbers of cases in nearly all states, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Many regions and categories showed no change whatsoever, and none exceeded plus or minus 2 index points.

Gross revenue and exams/refractions were flat except for tiny upticks of 1 index point for both categories in the West. Frame units and lens pairs were down slightly in the Northeast (-2 index points) and South (-1 index point) and up slightly in the West (2 index points) and Midwest (1 index point). Every region saw slight declines of either -1 or -2 index points for contact lenses.

The Jobson COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker data is compiled by Jobson Research from GPN/EDGEpro and ABB Analyze data. Another element of the report illustrates Consumer Sentiments about the COVID-19 response and purchasing intentions, with data supplied by The Vision Council.

This index baseline was developed by Jobson Research from total sales from an average 7 days in the first quarter of 2019.

Click here to view the complete Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker