‘The face of the coronavirus’: A Hong Kong student shunned in Italy

Soon after Ciara Lo arrived in Bologna, Italy, from her native Hong Kong last month, her wallet was stolen. But when she went to file a police report, she was told she would have to wait outside, she said. And when the 22-year-old student tried to open a bank account, she said she was turned away — by an employee who made a remark about the coronavirus.

Lo, in Italy to study at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, near Bologna, said that since her arrival, she has sensed that she is being discriminated against — even shunned — because she is Chinese.

Northern Italy has been battling the spread of the coronavirus, which originated in Hubei province, in mainland China, for more than a week. Cities have been put on lockdown, over 1,600 cases have been confirmed, and 34 people have died.

After months of anti-government protest and civil unrest in Hong Kong, Lo, an English major, said she had been eager for her semester abroad and her first trip to Italy. She flew to Bologna nine days before she was scheduled to, worried that her exchange program might be suspended because of the virus.

“I thought coming to Italy would mean that I could actually go out for a bit,” she said.

Instead, she says she got long, hard stares at the Bologna airport and wondered if it was because of her face mask, which she had worn for the entire 16-hour flight. She took a bus to central Bologna — and soon after she got there, someone slashed her backpack open and stole her wallet, she said.

A passerby took her to a police station to file a report. But when she presented her Hong Kong passport, she said she was asked to wait outside, where she began to shiver in her thin sweatshirt. Lo said she was eventually allowed to file a report but has not heard back about her wallet, though she was given a phone number to call if she developed symptoms of the coronavirus.

Annamaria Losio, second from left, watches the Pope’s televised Sunday blessing with her grandchildren at her home in Milan, on Feb 23, 2020. In an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, regional officials cancelled the public celebration of Mass throughout much of northern Italy, and upended sacred rituals of Italian life. The New York Times

A spokeswoman for Bologna police said that controls on people from countries considered at risk for the coronavirus had begun the day that Lo came in and that the officers at the desk were required to make sure she had been checked.

Lo was also taken aback by her treatment at Intesa Sanpaolo, a bank where she tried to open an account so her parents could wire her money. At one branch, a teller told her that she could not open an account because she did not speak Italian. At another, she said she was escorted out by an employee who told her, apologetically, that she had to leave because she was from “the zone of the coronavirus.”

An Intesa Sanpaolo spokesman said the treatment Lo received “lacked respect and does not reflect the values or policies of Intesa Sanpaolo.”

Not everyone Lo has met in Italy has been hostile, she said. Some have gone out of their way to help her. The man who accompanied her to the police station gave her money for food when they parted ways. At another bank, an employee called her university on her behalf to explain that she did not have any money and was having trouble opening an account. The school sent an employee to Bologna to lend her money.

In general, though, she has felt like an outsider, she said.

“I am frustrated,” she said. “Because I am Chinese, I am the face of the coronavirus.”

In recent days, Italy has become the centre of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, with the most cases of any country outside of Asia. Lo has mostly stayed home to avoid crowds and unwelcome stares, venturing outside only for groceries.

People around Bologna have cleared supermarket shelves of bleach and staples like pasta and tomato sauce, she said. The streets have become empty, like Hong Kong. Face masks are still uncommon, but more people are covering their mouths with winter scarves.

Although she felt mistreated by the people from the bank and the police station, Lo said she does not wish anyone harm. She feels unwelcome, but she can empathise with why Italians are concerned and eager to keep their community safe. There is a similar feeling in Hong Kong, but the discrimination is directed toward those from mainland China, she said.

“How do we protect our welfare and rights while still being friendly to people?” she asked.

She added: “It is not easy to strike a balance, and there will never be one.”

© 2020 New York Times News Service