I still don’t understand why people have a hard time accepting that not every person exposed gets it right then and there. It’s not nearly the most contagious virus we’ve seen. We all accept that someone can have the flu, a common cold, strep, etc. and a family member can not get infected from them. Certainly, the family member can later go on to get infected from someone else. What’s shver about the concept? It’s common knowledge. Even measles, which is one of the most contagious illnesses we know of (and far more contagious than COVID-19) obviously doesn’t infect *everybody* that comes in sustained contact!
I think I’ve identified a culprit. While this is significantly more contagious than the flu, it’s by far not the most contagious virus out there, but it’s super deadly also, which makes it a deadly combination. When people want to believe that it’s not that deadly, the only thing they can fall back on is that it’s super contagious, which leads them to question why every single person exposed has not yet contracted it.
A key thing to understand is it doesn’t necessarily infect people much more efficiently than the flu (though it does seem more efficient). The chief driver of the contagion seems to be the length of time infected people shed for, and the fact that presymptomatic people shed as well. That differentiates it from the flu and raises the R0 number. But of course it’s possible (and common) to not catch it from a family member, even from a spouse! I’m sure many here can testify to having had one spouse get the flu in the past and one spouse not.
That’s not how contagion works.