Pulse August 2020 | Page 50

PULSE POINTS BY JOSH CORMAN Tracking the Effects of COVID-19 ISPA’S SNAPSHOT SURVEYS TYPICALLY GATHER DATA on a wide variety of rotating subjects of interest and concern to those in the spa industry, such as workforce challenges, retail efforts and quarterly industry performance. As we’ve come to learn during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, “typical” isn’t a word that applies much these days. As the spread of COVID-19 has created an everevolving “new normal” within the spa industry, ISPA has narrowed the focus of recent Snapshot Surveys. In March, April and May of this year, the surveys highlighted the pandemic’s impact on the spa industry and how spas have worked toward reopening. Uncertainty about the scope and potential long-term effects of the pandemic is evident in the responses collected as part of the March survey, which was conducted at a time when fewer than 20 states had issued “safer at home” or “shelter in place” orders. Even in those early days, nearly all spas (99 percent) had increased their sanitation and cleaning efforts and more than four in five (82 percent) had implemented new COVID-19-specific policies 38 PULSE ■ AUGUST 2020