You know, I don’t believe a darn word about the period of contagiousness. I think this is simply an excuse to keep the public calm or unaware and something the CDC & king putt can use before they tell us, “We just didn’t know,” or “It’s mutated into something stronger... and earlier period of contagiousness,” etc.
Of course ....that is par and partial of handling an outbreak of any disease. ...and for that matter anything else which would alarm and cause panic as in our nation it takes very little to do just that....so they have to be very cautious regarding how and what they report.
Imagine what panic in the US would look like and you can understand why they are being cautious. The fact is we do know it's here, so each person needs to be aware of that and take their own measures to be as safe as possible.....which is why they're telling people to pay attention to basic hygiene practices as well.
I'm going to also add this....one of the most dangerous places to be for 'any' illness is a hospital.....which is why the sooner you can be released from any illness the better. Not to mention an Emergency room....my family has always made a point to sit outside or as far as possible from other people until we can be seen...and avoid going there and instead our physicians. And even there be cautious..."sick" people are all around and you haven't a clue what they have!