I saw an elderly woman fall down outside Tesco about a month ago and although she evidently couldn’t get up, she was shrieking at the people who had rushed over to help her (me included) not to come near her. I’ve no idea what happened in the end as I just left her to it.
Goodness...
Luckily (the experience, not the accident), towards the start of the pandemic - when, arguably, the fear was at its worst - when an elderly woman carrying many bags of shopping tripped and fell right in front of me and I offered to help her up, she was very lovely and immensely grateful.
As for the question as to whether COVID-19 has affected politeness when travelling, I think masks (or lack thereof) have played a significant factor in this:
Just before Christmas, on a very packed bus in Portsmouth, I witnessed a man kicking off at this poor elderly woman for not wearing a mask, despite the fact she was exempt.
The man initially got on and sat down next to the woman, before aggressively jumping out of the seat and shouting "Get away! You're not wearing a mask!"
This led to a commotion at the front of the bus wherein the woman was forced to defend herself and the man carried on shouting, whilst other passengers started conversing about masks.
Alas, the man in question wasn't even wearing a mask - so his rude and totally unnecessary reaction absolutely reeked of hypocrisy to me...