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  Covid-19 and dementia: ‘My father studies me, as if trying to put together a difficult jigsaw’ Writer Barry McKinley visits his father in a nursing home and reflects on time passing Fri, Oct 30, 2020, 05:52   Updated: Fri, Oct 30, 2020, 15:42 When I arrive at the nursing home, I’m fitted out with a visor, latex gloves and a surgical apron. Sitting in a wing-backed chair in the lobby, my father tilts his head and studies me, as if trying to put together a difficult jigsaw. “Norman?” He says, mistaking me for his older brother who died in 2006. “The very same,” I reply. It’s easier this way. These visits are awkward: The paraphernalia, the social distancing and the time limit of 45 minutes, but at least we get to see each other. For several months, there was no visiting at all. “I don’t see your car. Did you bring it?” “It’s right outside,” I say. He turns to follow my gaze, past the shrubbery blown flat in the stiff October breeze. His eyes alight on a 2018 Mercedes SUV....