NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, Oct. 4-10, at a rate of -1 index point. That leaves gross revenue 5 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 41) during 2019 and 6 index points below where it was during Week 41 of last year, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker. U.S. optical sales were either flat or down slightly last week at rates ranging from 0 to -3 index points.
 
Frame units and lens pairs decreased the most, both at rates of -3 index points, while exams/refractions and contact lens sales both remained flat when comparing last week with the previous week, Sept 27-Oct. 3.
 
Even though it decreased by -1 index point, gross revenue remains the only category at a level above that of an average week in 2019 (the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker). All other categories remained below an average week in 2019, with exams/refractions surpassing lens pairs to become the closest at 93 index points and with contact lenses remaining the furthest at 88 index points.
 
Jobson Optical Research selected 1,500 optical locations that have been operating and reporting their sales to its partners, GPN and ABB Analytics, since 2019. The index has been rebased to an average week in 2019. Going forward, this new index base will be used as an arbitrary benchmark and assigned a value of 100.
 
Click here to view the complete Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker