The blood thing makes sense whether or not people can get infected that way. They aren't changing their canon of how people can actually get infected just by changing the way people are afraid to be infected. The fact that people are afraid to get it on their skin doesn't mean it's transmissible that way. They probably just don't know. These people are doing the best they can with what they know, so avoiding walker blood is probably not a bad idea if you don't fully understand the way it works. As the story progresses and they have come in contact with walker blood by accident, it gets normalized for them, so they no longer fear it quite as badly.
It seems like, in this show, it functions like an infection. Infections require a route, the right medium, and sufficient quanity. It seems like this is an infection of the bloodstream that is transmissible via saliva as well. People's skin is nearly a perfect defense against that type of infection usually, provided it is unbroken. Even if there is a small cut and a drop of blood got in there, it may be the case that it takes more than a drop of infected blood to overwhelm the body's defenses and take hold. This is why it is totally feasible that the disease can be bloodborne, but it's generally okay if they bleed on you. Bites provide much more contact and opportunity for infection.
I don't think the lady who fainted was bitten, by the by. It's a non-starter as a storyline. It would just be a waste of time.
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