Wuhan and Lombardy

[flowerbombVR]

Does anyone think there is a correlation between these 2 in terms of high numbers of people contracting and dying with Covid19 ?

in what way?

Cannot verify but did read somewhere that there is/was a large leather industry (luxury goods) in that region of Italy and many of the craftspeople were immigrants from Wuhan region...might blow the lid off the whole luxury made in Italy by a little old local artisan label that some high end marques proudly exhibit and charge for. Who knows 😶

I heard it was because both have extremely high pollution levels meaning their lungs are more susceptible to the virus.

Just to add that "somewhere" is because I have shit memory and brain fog so unable to verify or source, so it could be babble, rumour or misunderstanding. I may or may not have been down the Reddit rabbit hole. I recall the same source also added that native Italian in that region were largely elderly, then some other theories and suggestions about close contact culturally and different approaches to antibiotic use possibly causing more resistance to treatment. Whatever it is horrifying, heartbreaking and incomprehensible to me.

I may or may not have been down the Reddit rabbit hole

Articles in the Guardian, American Spectator and Reuters on the Chinese/Italian fashion/textiles industry:

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/25/as-if-we-were-the-disease-coronavirus-brings-prejudice-for-italys-chinese-workers

spectator.org/coronavirus-the-price-of-luxury/

www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-sweatshop-insight/insight-italys-chinese-garment-workshops-boom-as-workers-suffer-idUSBRE9BS04D20131229

Although most of the factories appear to be in Prato,Tuscany - businessmen and traders more likely to be based in Milan and flying in and out of the country? Also, the Reuters article says that most Chinese citizens living in Italy originate from Wenzhou, which was also badly affected by coronavirus and shut down 10 days after Wuhan;

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7956851/China-virus-death-toll-surges-past-300.html

Tourism;
"Last year, the preferred destinations by Chinese visitors were the northern Lombardy region, whose capital is Milan, and the central Lazio region"

www.china.org.cn/travel/2020-01/24/content_75645234.htm

One obvious connection is that Wuhan and Lombardy are 'firsts' and unsuspecting/unprepared for the dreadful events that unfolded - the virus was probably circulating in Lombardy before the officially recorded case.

Thank you for being so thorough...really appreciate the information.

What about Spain, then? Their graph seems to be worse than Italy's

What about Spain, then?

I don't know - lots of criticism of the Spanish government - 120,000 women were allowed to march through Madrid on the 8th March for International Women's Day.

Although a quick google reveals that 50 members of the Wuhan soccer team came to Madrid for pre-season training Jan/Feb - Madrid was also the venue of the United Nations Climate Change Summit in December - representatives from 140 countries attended. How long has coronavirus been in circulation?

Huawei has its largest flagship store outside China in Madrid - they obviously chose Madrid for a reason;

gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/huawei-opens-largest-flagship-store-outside-china-in-madrid-2066196

In terms of similarities, both Wuhan and northern Italy have very high levels of air pollution, with deaths due to respiratory illness already high in Italy compared to other EU countries, which could be a factor.

The link between Chinese textile workers in Italy is unproven (and
Chinese in Italy have suffered discrimination as a result of speculation so we should be cautious). Prato (the European town with the largest Chinese population) has low rates of infection compared to other parts of the same region, for example.

We do know that one of Italy's Patient 1s (we now know there were at least two sources for the virus circulating in Italy) was an Italian superspreader who caught the virus from a visiting German business man. An earlier case affecting two Chinese tourists was successfully contained (there was a case in Britain at the same time), but the Italian wasn't diagnosed for ages as he had no direct link to China, and unfortunately affected a lot of people both in and out of hospital. So probably much is down to timing and being caught unawares.

Other factors: Italy has a large elderly population, cases are highly geographically concentrated which increases pressure on hospitals etc. Italy has the highest number of deaths but the growth curves for Madrid and New York are very steep, we'll only know in time where is worst affected. Other countries have had more chance to learn from Italy's experience and implement social distancing and lockdown sooner, make preparations to maximise healthcare resources etc so let's hope their outcomes are better.

The link between Chinese textile workers in Italy is unproven (and
Chinese in Italy have suffered discrimination as a result of speculation so we should be cautious)

That ship has sailed - I'm standing 2 metres away from everyone.

The average age of the Chinese community in Italy is only 30;

www.integrazionemigranti.gov.it/Areetematiche/PaesiComunitari-e-associazioniMigranti/Documents/ES_CINA_en.pdf