If someone spits on already-slippery floor tiles near a stairwell with sharp edges (or a low-ish handrail next to a long drop), and then someone else hurries over by the stairs with smooth-soled shoes on… oh noooo!

Or, if someone spits on the floor who happens to have an infectious airborn disease, or a not-normally-deadly infectious airborn disease which infects someone with a compromised immune system.

A spitter could have Covid. Then a random dog could lick it up. Then the dog could lick one’s face and spread Covid-19. Then you could die.

It can also freeze on a cold day and cause a possible stupid slippery accident. I spit on occasion due to a slimy throath. Often, people spit during sporting or exercises for better breathing. But good manners require you to avoid polluting sidewalks or close witnesses of the spitting action.

@Zaku @RedDeerGuy1 @Cornelis1977 Thanks.
@Yellowdog It’s not in Social section.

@Zaku How exactly does it get to the immune compromised person though? Do you mean indirectly (if the person happens to pick up something from the floor where the spit is?)

@flo Spitting can result in small drops with disease floating in the air. The spit spot itself could also be touched by hands, feet, bugs, etc, and then brought to the face, and open wound, or into your nose, throat and lungs.

Diseases where this might be a risk (if a very small and unlikely one) include:

COVID-19
Rhinovirus (colds)
Flu virus
Epstein-Barr virus (mononucleosis, or mono)
Type 1 herpes (cold sores)
Strep bacteria
Hepatitis B and hepatitis C
Cytomegalovirus (a risk for babies in the womb)

Bear with me here. A person spits on the sidewalk. That person is an asymptomatic carrier of a new virus that kills 90% of the people that come in contact with it. Right after spitting, he is killed when an air conditioning unit (window type) falls out of a window several stories above him, hitting him in the head. But the spit remains. Before the EMT’s get there, a rat runs up to the body, walking through the spit. This spit is spread through its body by it scratching and self-grooming. The fleas that invest this vermin are equally infected. But here’s the kicker…they aren’t impacted by the virus as humans are.
So the rat and fleas go on to spread the disease to other rats and fleas. They also spread it to places they go including peoples homes, restaurants, and hospitals. Eventually the disease shows up in a human host.
But this disease is nefarious. It takes exactly 37.5 hours for symptoms to show and the person is contagious for 23.1 of those hours. So by the time the first person is identified, the disease has spread in an exponential manner and many people die. From spitting on the sidewalk.

@Zaku Yes. ”...floating in the air…(before it touches the groud even.)
@seawulf575 Yes. from someone else spitting on the sidewalk etc.