[pessimizer]

The specific cases of people experiencing dementia has not only been noted during the covid-19 era, but also evidence shows that dementia patients have experienced a huge number of excess deaths. I'm personally sure my grandfather was one; he'd had it for years, and it pretty much sat at a steady state for years, while family was interacting with him enough to periodically jumpstart his mind back into lucidity. The decline after lockdown was precipitous.

That disease doesn't somehow make in-person interactions with family and friends unavoidable, though, when people don't have the disease. The fact that people with dementia requiring stimulation to stave off decline are also members of families doesn't magically make all interactions with family members medically necessary.

I generally agree with your conclusions about the change in circumstances, but I personally limit in-person social activities to a small circle of people who are also limiting in-person social activities precisely because I want to continue visiting my grandmother without killing her.