The concepts of romance and love are rapidly evolving with new modalities of romantic relationships in Lebanon (civil marriage, cohabitation) along with a catastrophic economic crisis affecting the country since 2019, and being ranked among the top ten crises worldwide. This document represents a cross-sectional study investigating 585 Lebanese participants from different Lebanese regions randomly sampled using the snowball method. Besides, the Relationship dynamics scale (RDS) was used to evaluate vulnerability for conflicts in the context of romantic relationship and their correlates, with a very good internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.908) and an excellent validity (Factor analysis using Promax technique). The results are as follows: A higher vulnerability for conflicts in the context of amorous relations is associated with having a child or a partner with handicap or receiving an actual chronic treatment (personal, for children or for the partner), having 3 or more children and finally having high financial stressors. Moreover, this survey evaluated factors modulating financial burden and stress using the InCharge Financial Distress / Financial Well-Being (IFDFW) scale. The results showed that working only with day shifts schedule, being male, having physical activity of a minimum of 2.5 hours per week, having a partner working outside Lebanon, having an income in currency other than Lebanese Pound, and being married at an age above 30 years are associated with less stressful economic status. While on the other hand, having a history of chronic treatment (Personal, Partner or children) and being married before 18 years were correlated with high levels of economic stress.
Testing is critical to mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic, but testing capacity has fallen short of the need in the United States and elsewhere, and long wait times have impeded rapid isolation of cases. Operational challenges such as supply problems and personnel shortages have led to these bottlenecks and inhibited the scale-up of testing to needed levels. This paper uses operational simulations to facilitate rapid scale-up of testing capacity during this public health emergency. Specifically, discrete event simulation models were developed to represent the RT-PCR testing process in a large University of Maryland testing center, which retrofitted high-throughput molecular testing capacity to meet pandemic demands in a partnership with the State of Maryland. The simulation models support analyses that identify process steps which create bottlenecks, and evaluate “what-if” scenarios for process changes that could expand testing capacity. This enables virtual experimentation to understand the trade-offs associated with different interventions that increase testing capacity, allowing the identification of solutions that have high leverage at a feasible and acceptable cost. For example, using a virucidal collection medium which enables safe discarding of swabs at the point of collection removed a time-consuming “deswabbing” step (a primary bottleneck in this laboratory) and nearly doubled the testing capacity. The models are also used to estimate the impact of demand variability on laboratory performance and the minimum equipment and personnel required to meet various target capacities, assisting in scale-up for any laboratories following the same process steps. In sum, the results demonstrate that by using simulation modeling of the operations of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR testing, preparedness planners are able to identify high-leverage process changes to increase testing capacity.
