May 15, 2020 — The Vision Council continues to track consumer sentiment trends relating to eye exams and optical purchases with its Covid-19 Optical Impact Consumer Study, which launched in February.

“As the complex implications of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to impact our industry, we have been closely monitoring how consumer sentiment is changing,” says Ashley Mills, CEO of The Vision Council. “By tracking daily response patterns, the research team has been able to identify subtle shifts in consumer sentiment toward eyecare and vision correction that are extremely important to understand. We are committed to keeping our community informed as the situation continues to evolve.”

Highlights from the April Covid-19 Optical Impact Consumer Study include: 

• By the last week in April, 61% of the U.S. adult population were highly-to-extremely concerned about the Covid-19 pandemic, down from a high of 71% during the week of April 5.
• The percentage of consumers postponing or canceling Rx eyewear purchases dropped from a high of 38% during the week of April 12 to 29% during the week of April 26.
• More than one third of U.S. adult consumers were still staying in touch with their eyecare provider in March and April, even with most offices shut down preventing in-person contact or visits. Consumers were most likely to be using regular telephone calls, email/phone text exchanges, and social media video apps to stay in touch with their ECP during the Covid-19 crisis.