How Italy Became Europe’s Hotspot For The Coronavirus

In the late 90’s, most of the leather goods and textile factories in Northern Italy were sold to Chinese companies who later imported their workers. Over the years, Italy has imported hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens to work in these factories with direct flights back home. Most of them are from current virus-stricken regions in China. Is it a coincidence why Italy has become Europe’s hotspot for the Coronavirus?

Today, there are more than 300,000 Chinese citizens living in Italy. Many of them going back and forth between both countries have contributed to China’s reporting of new cases. From Forbes:

Italy’s outbreak has also marked some of the first reported cases of coronavirus being imported back to China. Qingtian, a small county in China’s southeastern Zhejiang province, confirmed eight new cases of coronavirus on March 2 from Chinese nationals living in Italy’s Lombardy region. There are more than 300,000 Chinese nationals living in Italy, and roughly 90% of them in the Zhejiang Province; the garment industry there has attracted Chinese workers.

In a Guardian article from 2016:

Violent clashes have broken out this week between police and the local Chinese community in Prato near Florence, home to one of the largest concentrations of Chinese-run industry in Europe.

Tensions had been rising in the town, Italy’s textile capital, that has attracted Chinese immigrants since the mid-1990s. Some 50,000 Chinese work in the area, making clothes and handbags with the prized “Made in Italy” label.

To make things worse, the Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, has suggested residents hug Chinese people to encourage them in the fight against the Coronavirus.

The mayor went so far as to hug a Chinese person to promote his politically correct “#HugAChinese” campaign:

#coronavirus: seguiamo le indicazioni delle autorità sanitarie e usiamo cautela, ma nessun terrorismo psicologico e soprattutto basta con i soliti sciacalli che non vedevano l’ora di usare questa scusa per odiare e insultare. Uniti in questa battaglia comune! #AbbracciaUnCinese pic.twitter.com/pUdqEl0piW

— Dario Nardella (@DarioNardella) February 1, 2020

The result? Italians felt it in their heart to virtue signal and prove they’re not racist, but now they’re dead.

As of this writing, Coronavirus cases in Italy have reached 15,113, and deaths have surpassed 1,106. That’s a 6.7% death rate to prove you’re not racist.

Now, entire cities and regions in Italy have been quarantined, while the virus has spread all throughout Europe and North America. But hey, at least they’re not racist.