Strategic Recovery: Uncertainty, Solidarity Continue

As of early August, 99% of laboratories were open for business and 81% of furloughed or laid off staff members were back to work. However, workloads were a mixed bag. When comparing incoming cases in July 2020 to July 2019, 38% of respondents to LMT’s latest COVID-19 Survey say workloads were lower this year and a similar percentage say they were higher; 27% say they were about the same.

Among those who report lighter caseloads this July, business was down an average of 43%. Their expectations for the future are varied: a third predict workloads will return to normal by the end of the year, another third say things should turn around sometime in 2021, and the remainder say they don’t know what to expect for the future given the fluidity of the situation. “I’m a little slow; it may improve. Things are so upside down right now I really don’t know what to think quite frankly!” says a survey participant from California. 

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