COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US)

This whole spreading has me concerned. It started in China from what we can tell say some time back in November ‘19. How has it spread throughout the world so quickly, IF it is truly a virus that is mostly communicable thru direct contact/close proximity with others?

i am no where nearly knowledgeable enough to understand how it has spread so quickly from its point of origin. It really blows my mind, how it has spread over the entire world and infected so many, in a short amount of time. I wish someone could explain in layman's terms how we got to this point. And now we are trying to distance ourselves from one another, when it has spread from a country so far removed. Something that just boggles my mind. Has it traveled thru the air, to other countries? Were there that many people from Wuhan that came into contact with so many others that contracted the virus and spread it globally? I just really have a difficult time comprehending. Thanks!

A single cough from an infected individual can expel millions of copies of the virus (virions). https://www.livescience.com/3686-gross-science-cough-sneeze.html. these hang around in the air fairly well and can be breathed in quite easily.

Theoreitclaly speaking, even a single virion can be enough to cause infection https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090313150254.htm

Add to that people coughing/sneezing into their hands, and touching public surfaces like door handles. Even before coronavirus hit, I've become almost Howard Hughes like and refuse to touch handles with my bare hands.