Mario Cavolo, an Italian-American writer and communications adviser, sits down for an interview. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)

An article written by Mario Cavolo, an Italian-American writer and communications adviser living in China, has recently attracted attention from worldwide netizens. The article, titled Something's Not Right Here Folks, compares the situations between America’s 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak and the current novel coronavirus epidemic in China, garnering over 1 million views in just 4 days.

Born in the United States, Mario has lived in China for over 20 years. His wife comes from Shenyang, northeast China’s Liaoning Province. Amid China’s efforts to stem the tide of the coronavirus outbreak, Mario decided to write about what he has observed in China and answer questions from the outside world.

In response to some hateful and vicious attacks on the Chinese government for their supposedly intentional conspiracy to intentionally under-report the number of infections, Mario explained that this is exactly and always the case with such flu outbreaks, no matter what country it is. “The U.S. H1N1 swine flu numbers were vastly underestimated and updated three years later, because, dear friends, that is the nature of such viral outbreaks, which don't care which country they started in,” he noted.

An article written by Mario Cavolo titled ‘Something’s Not Right Here Folks’ published on his LinkedIn account. (Screenshot of Mario Cavolo LinkedIn account)

Mario pointed out in the article that the United States 2009 H1N1 swine flu eventually infected 60 million people in the US, with close to 300,000 deaths globally. “In 2009, did UK subjects in America get a notice from their kingdom to leave America? No. Did the world suggest we isolate from America? Close the U.S. borders!? No,” Mario asked rhetorically.

“It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just tragedy,” Mario said in the article, stressing that the world should be applauding China’s unprecedented, broad and aggressive response instead of targeting Chinese people with xenophobic attacks.

After the article was posted on Mario’s LinkedIn account, posts from netizens showing support and agreement flooded the comments section. (Screenshot of Mario CavoloLinkedIn account)

After the article was posted on Mario’s LinkedIn account, a social media platform, voices of netizens showing support and agreement flooded the comments section. Many readers applauded Mario’s article for being unbiased, prudent and taking a reasonable perspectives. Mario said he hadn’t expected the article to be so well received.

“Virus are enemy, but Chinese people are not. Nobody wanna spread out virus; nobody wanna be victims. Trust China government. Trust Chinese people,” one Linkedin comment read.

As for the efforts taken by the Chinese government to combat the outbreak, Mario said that there is no other country like China where people trust and cooperate with the government so much, noting that the Chinese government is making every effort to protect society, families and people.

“I saw the truth of what people outside of China couldn't see. So I have to tell them the truth that China is a great country and I feel it my duty to speak up for it,” said Mario.