Italy seems like an outlier to me.
There’s something ‘extra’ going on. Maybe the imported Chinese laborers?
SK’s sect may make it an outlier too, and Japan’s cruise ship?
Maybe a ‘critical mass’ of an established pool makes a difference.
But, it’s early still and Italy does seem a similar environment to ours.
The Chinese laborers brought it in to Italy, no doubt.
But after that the virus went wild and infected everybody in sight..
Now multiple towns/areas are in quarantine and the virus has spread throughout the country.
Nowhere has been safe, and containment efforts have been a total failure, repeat, total failure.