> Didn’t the mayor of Florence have a “hug-a-Chinese” day in February? There was so much political correctness around banning travelers from China that it probably cost significant lives.

They were one of the first countries to ban travel from China.

What you call "political correctness" was just an anti-racism message.

Italy certainly had some things go wrong in some areas, but they were also unlucky in some ways, being the first country to get hit hard.