As the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown begins to ease it leaves behind a trail of industry impacts. In particular, the health industry has seen a major negative impact as many businesses have had to close due to the outbreak. At the same time, health products have also boosted as individuals look to protect themselves from the disease.
It’s interesting to consider whether this boost in sales for health products will continue. We look into this in more detail.
Impact on healthy lifestyles
Probiotic supplements are currently in high demand as many people resort to staying at home and have limited access to health facilities such as the gym, health spas and clubs. This is to help promote social distancing and decrease the risk of the spread happening in these places, particularly as these are businesses that can become easily overcrowded.
So, whilst health services and products are seeing a great increase in sales during this the industry as a whole has seen some decreases in performance.
Hospital facilities
Items and products such as surgical gloves and masks are currently in high demand as many people aim to protect themselves from the virus. However, this has had a negative impact on the hospital staff that work on the front line and need them most. There has been a history of health networks seeing constraints financially and as they continue to be overwhelmed, more and more staff are having to protect others by quarantining themselves which patient levels increase.
Because of this, there have been alternative arrangements made to help support these health networks. For example, stadiums have been opened to be occupied by hospital beds to help with the patient overload for those currently experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. Charity work has also increased fund health projects and ensure more people and staff can be protected.
Other health industries
There are also other common health industries that have been impacted by the pandemic. Gyms are nowhere near opening at the moment due to the risk they cause from spreading the virus. People are still able to head outside for exercise as the lockdown measures ease, but as customers visit the gyms less, there has been less demand for this kind of clothing.
On the other hand, there has been an increase in gym equipment purchases as more people succumb to home workouts to help maintain their fitness levels that can’t be performed in the gym currently.
In summary, we’ve outlined many examples of how the healthy industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy is likely to be poor for many months to come but we can try every little bit to decrease the impact on hospitals and contribute to our local businesses wherever we can to help get them through this.
