According to the UN (United Nations), people aged 65 and over will reach 1.5 billion in 2050 [1]. Securing and supporting this population is therefore a growing concern, as advancing age encourages the appearance of risks of physical, cognitive and relational degradation. Indeed, an American report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), carried out before the COVID epidemic in 2020, points out that 24% of adults aged 65 and over living in the United States (i.e., approximately 7.7 million people) were socially isolated [2]. In fact, what each person experienced during this COVID-19 crisis period is what many elderly people experience throughout the year.

While social isolation and loneliness are closely related, they do not mean the same thing. According to the UK's National Institute for Health Research, isolation is a lack of social contact or support, whereas loneliness is the feeling of being alone and isolated (it is possible to feel lonely in a room full of people) [3]. Social isolation in the elderly is a risk factor for malnutrition[4], impaired mobility[5] and physical frailty [6].