For people with dementia, the coronavirus pandemic is a nightmare

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EVERY DAY Diane Evans (not her real name), from her home in London, calls her 85-year-old mother, who lives on her own in Wales. Every day she asks if she is remembering to wash her hands regularly and to keep a social distance from other people. Every day her mother is perplexed by the question. Every day the facts of life during the coronavirus epidemic are explained to her yet again, with an heroic absence of exasperation. Every day Ms Evans worries that her mother will put herself at unnecessary risk of contracting the covid-19 virus.