The transmission must occur while symptoms are present.
It is only in the brief (and I do mean brief) period where the person begins to cough and before they are too sick to be out, that the viral transmission takes place.
You are, of course, right that this is not a highly virulent airborne superbug. But consider the hundreds of travelers who are returning infected from Asia.
Somehow, someway people are becoming infected by strangers. That is the concern
Somehow, someway people are becoming infected by strangers Trying to be optimistic here.
People do things when they are very ill. That man on the plane and in the elevator in HK was very ill and it sounds like he had no business leaving his bed. But he was away from home and doing things he had to do.
Haven't you ever been there?...head pounding, fever raging, dizzy, hacking up a lung going to the grocery for some ginger ale and Nyquil when hubby is out of town. I know I have.