I would guess that the demand for this type of service would be down, but is it really? Anecdotal data welcome, as real data is probably difficult to obtain.
I always thought the two professions that would survive the apocalypse would be prostitution and barbers.
Apparently not.
@polar_bear might have some insights…
Real data is easy to find. I just did a search on prostitution and covid.
In Germany, sex work is legal and regulated. The government is helping out sex workers but they’re still worse off.
In the UK, many sex workers have been left destitute.
In Amsterdam, prostitutes are also struggling under the lockdown.
In the US, brothels in Nevada are struggling. The sex workers can collect unemployment through the CARES act.
Some countries are helping with government aid, but there are many industries struggling under the lockdown as well.
Thanx. Librarians on “vacation” don’t like to do their own research. 
Though not prostitution, here is an article from the Times about cam workers. Not easy for them, but easier than in-person. I don’t know if this is out of the paywall for being Covid-19 related.
In the UK, if ladies had organised their business correctly they could have taken advantage of self employed grants and even loans.
Since sex work is legal in the UK, wouldn’t it be the same as any other business?
Alex Wagner has been doing a podcast about different kinds of workers during the pandemic — restaurant workers, drug dealers, etc. The “Sex” episode seems to focus mostly on porn from the description, but it might be interesting for some. (Have not listened to it, but other episodes have been good.) Six Feet Apart with Alex Wagner: Sex on Apple Podcasts
My initial response to some of the posts above was “maybe it works in the UK”, but just the other day I was casually watching some bbc news show and they were discussing how not all self employed people can actually make use of the schemes that were set up. Some of the difficulties mentioned were people from other EU countries not bing eligible (or knowing how to apply) and people that couldn’t provide their business numbers for the last 3 years. I would say the situation is very similar to other European countries.
I would expect over 90% of the sexworkers to be from Eastern Europe and if they are keeping records at all, it would probably not be very reliable and often for less than three years (either because they haven’t worked that long,or because they spent time elsewhere; sexworkers often try out new places or new countries). God knows where they pay taxes, if they pay taxes at all.
Like I said, it seems the requirements for government support in the UK are fairly similar to other countries like the Netherlands. During May and June, all kinds of industries were all over TV to explain how bad things were because of the lockdown… and some sexworkers were doing this as well ( it’s a shame that most sexworkers willing to be on TV, are not particularly eloquent in making their point). But the main take away as clear enough: almost no one was getting anything from the government… and these were Dutch sexworkers, who seem to be more likely to have all the paperwork and tax returns in order. Sexwork may be legal, but that doesn’t mean that sexworkers are treated like any other self employed person (difficulties in getting bank accouns; tax consultants don’t want to consult because of overly stringent laws about what constitutes “exploiting” sexworkers, etc.).
I’ll get into some more anecdotal stuff in a new post.
Some countries have allowed prostitution again after the lockdown (with restrictions or not); Belgium and Switserland from the second half of June and Austria and the Netherlands since the first of July. Germany is being extremely coutious and is planning some very restricted open up in this regard, from September first. I could discuss how this all looks at the moment (the last month I’ve been in Switzerland and Austria… and of course the Netherlands), but that is not really the point of this thread.
I asked the first few girls I taked to about government support, and they looked at me like I was crazy… I stopped asking pretty quickly. I’m pretty sure none of the girls I know got a dime (I’m also sure very few of them actuually pay a reasonable amount of taxes, but that’s a different story). It is quite normal for girls to go home for a coupe of months at a time and it seems most of them used the lockdown to go home for a bit. Now the lack of money is starting to tell… it is noticeable (mostly because I stay in contact with some other guys I know) that there has been an increase in girls asking for loans the last few weeks. They need money to get back to Germany or wherever. You saw a spike of these request in the first couple of weeks after the clubs were closed (and income suddenly dropped to zero), and now the last few weeks again.
For what it’s worth, prositution never stopped during lockdown. Regulars have been meeting with their girls throughout the lockdowns (and often setting up meetings between the girl and other men as well). This sounds worse than it is. If I wanted I could have met up with at least a dozen girls I know (and that know me)… through guys that I know, which happen to be their regulars (I am not, so I don’t have their contact data). Some clubs are officially closed, but if you call and they know you, you can make an appointment with one of the girls. Some girls that work together in a club, now share an appartment where they receive regulars from that club…it is not that difficult to find them. I believe the authorities are not particularly disturbed by this kind of small scale prostitution happening.
Also, when clubs opened up again they were extremely full with both clients and girls wanting to work there. In Austria and Switzerland it has quieted down a lot from what I heard, maybe because they rely on tourists more. The one cub in the Netherlands is always full and it is not uncommon to have people waiting outside for someone to leave (maimum number of visitors). This has been the case non stop since the beginning of July.