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NEW YORK—The index numbers rose for optical revenues for the week ending July 12, according to the most recent Jobson COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker. After two weeks of declining sales, the U.S. optical business experienced substantial growth in that period. This sales increase occurred across the board for all service/product categories and all census regions of the country. On a national level, gross revenue grew at a rate of 12 index points, bringing it to within only 8 index points of where it was in mid-March, when stay-at-home orders began and optical sales started to slide.

This sales growth occurred simultaneous to coronavirus cases on the increase in most areas of the country except the Northeast. The strongest category remains contact lenses at 94 index points, within only 5 index points of where they were in mid-March. This is due to online sales, which has seen contact lens sales triple on average since mid-March, according to one ecommerce system provider.

Even as cases of COVID-19 surged throughout much of the country in the week ending July 12, all regions of the U.S. experienced increases in sales in all service/product categories, according to the Tracker. The optical business managed to increase sales at rates ranging from a low of 8 index points (for frame units in the Northeast and contact lenses in the West) to a high of 15 index points (for contact lenses in the Midwest).

While the Northeast was the only one of the four census regions to not suffer substantial increases in coronavirus cases, it still lags in optical sales when compared with the rest of the country, likely due to being the hardest hit by the pandemic up until only recently. The impact on the optical business in other regions of the country as they experience increases in COVID cases is likely to be felt over the coming weeks. Consumers' concerns about COVID-19 increased again for the week ending July 12, as it had the prior week.

The Jobson COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker data is compiled by Jobson Research from GPN 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.

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