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NEW YORK—The recovery in the optical industry stalled last week with flat optical sales on a national level, according to the latest Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker for the week ending Sept. 27. The only discernible change in optical sales was in the category of contact lenses, which experienced a minor decline of -2 index points over this past week when compared with the previous week tracked (Sept. 14-20). Except contact lenses, which are on their own trajectory due to online sales, all service/product categories on a national level are within only 10 index points of where they stood prior to the introduction of stay-at-home orders.

States in all four Census regions were reporting increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases. Contact lens sales were down -3 index points in the Northeast and West, -2 index points in the South and -1 index point in the Midwest. Otherwise, little movement was experienced in regional optical sales across the board, with changes ranging from only -2 index points to +2 index points, with declines seen primarily in the Midwest.

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