NEW YORK— Following five weeks of declines, some optical sales categories experienced a rebound, increasing nationally over the course of last week, May 3-9, according to the latest Jobson Practice Performance Tracker. On a national basis, contact lenses were up 4 index points, and exams/refractions increased by 1 index point. However, gross revenue remained flat, lens pairs were down 2 index points, and frame units declined by 3 index points. All this occurred while COVID cases throughout the U.S. continued decreasing, according to the 7-day moving average and reported on the COVID Data Tracker. 

Optical sales performed the best in the Midwest last week (May 3-9), with increases ranging from 2 index points for gross revenue to 5 index points for contact lenses. The Midwest did experience declining optical sales as well, but only in the category of frame units at a rate of -1 index point.

Frame units along with lens pairs were down or flat in all regions, ranging from flat for lens pairs in the Midwest to -4 index points for frame units in the Northeast and West and lens pairs in the West. Gross revenue and exams/refractions showed both ups and downs in different regions, ranging from up 3 index points in the Midwest for exams/refractions to down 1 index point for exams/refractions in the West and Northeast and gross revenue in the West.

Contact lens sales were up in all regions last week, ranging from an increase of 5 index points in the Midwest to 3 index points in the South and the West. All of this occurred while the majority of U.S. states continued experiencing declining cases of COVID, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

The Jobson COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker data is compiled by Jobson Research from GPN/EDGEPro and ABB Analyze data.

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