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Brenda, whose fiance is a doctor, says she has become very paranoid and is even afraid to make love to him for fear of contracting COVID-19.

Some doctors have recommended that persons either abstain from sex until the virus is under control, or to tone down on the level of intimacy during intercourse. For instance, persons are encouraged to avoid kissing, wear a face mask during sex, and to avoid face-to-face positions.

The doggy style has been recommended as the position that best mitigate the risk of contracting COVID-19.

The need to exercise restrain has been particularly hard on front-line workers. Persons like Brenda find it difficult to consider intimacy now, especially with Jamaica experiencing community spread.

"Right now, I am even afraid to be intimate with my fiance because he is on the front line and has to be in the public space daily. I feel like I am the issue, because he is sure that everything is good, but I can't move past the idea that he was just treating patients before coming back home," Brenda told THE WEEKEND STAR.

The spouse of another doctor is having the same issue.

"I'm not really scared about COVID, because persons have contracted the virus and recovered. But at the same time, I don't want to get it. So, because my partner works at a hospital, I am a bit stand-offish when it comes to us having sex. And this is not just a sexual thing ... the whole family connection is off. I find that my husband doesn't even engage with the kids as much," she said.

"He's not pressuring me, because we are adults and we both understand what is at stake. But we have gone from being very, very passionate and active to staying in our own corners of the bed."

Okeem, a nurse, told THE WEEKEND STAR that the pandemic has impacted his family life.

"As for my daughter, mother and father, being a front-line worker affects the relationship. I sent my four-year-old daughter to stay with her grandmother, because I am out daily and I don't want her to get the virus. I work with patients who are positive with the coronavirus. So, I made sure I sent her away to limit contact," he said.

For the most part, his relationship with his girlfriend has remained steady.

"She only get concerned if she hear news about the death numbers, or if she hears that someone she knows has it. The relationship is not affected no more than that," he said. "The mental aspect of it is the most outstanding part of it. They (family) know you work with patients weh positive, so they just assume seh you might bring it home. People are really sceptical about being beside you."

Meanwhile, Dr Carla Dunbar, marriage and family therapist, holds that the longer couples avoid sexual contact, the harder it becomes to break the cycle.

"The longer they refrain from sexual contact, the more they tend to blame each other. A low-sex marriage can often deteriorate so that conflict, frustration, and boredom become commonplace in the relationship," she said. Dunbar says healthy sexual functioning allows both persons to enjoy pleasure and to have realistic expectations of each other.

"With motivation, however, these couples can re-establish a healthy sexual life together. There is no one way to be sexual and no specific sexual frequency that is considered normal. For most people, sexuality is healthy as long as it does not cause either member of the couple any distress or emotional turmoil," she said.