Ask HN: Why is Italy hit so hard with the Covid-19 virus?

1. You can't find it if you don't look for it. Italy did more tests than the rest of Europe combined. Source as of 2nd of March (a bit old by now, but hey): https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/covid-19-testing/

2. Italy was the first country in Europe to ban direct flights with China.

3. Really took some hard, unpopular decisions regarding quarantine and containment. Lombardy and Veneto are the main engine of the country.

4. Together with Japan, has one of the oldest, age wise, populations on the planet, the most fragile in this moment (reason for the high mortality rate).

5. Schools and university closed until April. Entire provinces will be in quarantine (no entry/exit unless for urgent reasons) .etc.

I hope other countries in Europe won't be in a worse situation in a few weeks time due to the delayed start they had. I think Italy did the best by searching as wide as possible even if this wrongly painted them as the source of the spreading in Europe. But, in the long run, it was for the best.

Because the North of the country is as productive as Germany and one of the most used East-West passage route. Add to this the highest number of tests in Western Europe, which are free and covered by the national health system, and a lot asymptomatic cases. Still, today’s numbers are really worrying, with the government measures still unable to contain the spread and northern hospitals now going into real pressure.

1. Italy did a lot more testing

2. We only know about china's infection rate what china wants us to know. given that there is no free press there, anyone talking about coronavirus in china should take china-provided information with a grain of salt.

3. as soon as other countries start properly testing, they'll get "hit" too.

I’m not sure it is. Look up tests per capita. As of March 2nd Italy was at 386 and USA was at 1

To look at found cases and assume that is a reflection of reality at this point is wishful thinking

There is something weird going on. There are only ~4000 confirmed cases in Italy but people in multiple countries returning back from Italy bring the virus with them.

How they manage to find these infected people out millions of Italians?

Can somebody explain this to non-virologist?

Judging by this graph (log scale... ): https://preview.redd.it/bcvp26b3g4l41.png?width=1055&format=...

It just got hit the earliest so it's already that bad. It will hit more at the same strength.

source: https://old.reddit.com/r/China_Flu/comments/fekqib/daily_gra...

Because italian/spanish love to kiss each other as a salute and hug and all kinds of physical contact as opposed to english for example who wouldn't. Hence virus is easier to spread there.

Because of Hand-to-Hand contact.

Have you ever seen Italians speaking?

They speak and use their hands to support the talk, doing explanations and emphasis on hands gestures.

As they speak saliva goes in the air and land in the hands and as they touch other surfaces contaminating it.

Because Italy economy is driven by tourism, which means that it cannot ban flight from china (or other places).

Hence the virus has a chance to migrate to different locations.

Also, tourists, tend to travel (a lot) within the country, which means that the virus rapidly migrates inside the country.

And, it also cannot mandate complete public shutdown, which gave the virus a chance to start a community spread.

Once a community spreads starts, this is effectively a denial of service attack on the health care system, and this is what happening now.