NEW YORK—There was another steady, but slow, climb in overall optical sales for the week ending June 21, according to the latest Jobson COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker. With 90 percent of practices across the U.S. reopened as of June 9, according to the most recent Jobson Research Coronavirus ECP Study as VMAIL reported, there was another week of modest increases of two index points across all eyecare service and product categories in the Tracker. This follows similar small incremental growth on a national level the prior week, resulting in all service/product categories performing within 10 to 15 index points of their pre-pandemic sales levels.

On a regional basis, overall sales were slow, nearly flat at 1 index point for eight regional categories and completely flat in one category, gross revenue in the South. The largest growth was at 5 index points for contact lens pair sales in the Northeast, although the majority of product categories—including eye exams, frames units, spectacle lens pairs overall contact lens pair sales at ECP locations—grew by either 2 or 3 index points. As has been the case since tracking began, the Northeast continues lagging behind the rest of the country in all categories, at this point by 9 or more index points.

Consumers' COVID-19 concerns remained relatively stable to the prior week ending June 7, with the proportion of consumers with COVID concerns remaining at 60 percent levels, and those who said they intended to postpone or cancel purchases hovering at the 20 percent market, consistent with the results of the Performance Tracker for the past six weeks.

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 to view the complete Jobson COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker.