I think a big part of the confusion here is how do you clarify the meaning of R0 versus Rt in a context where people don't know the difference, and are using R0 in a context where there is either a time component or obvious public health interventions.

R0 may be a weak theoretical construct, but saying that it's also contextual and not inherent to the virus doesn't do much to clear things up.

http://web.stanford.edu/~jhj1/teachingdocs/Jones-on-R0.pdf