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