Osterholm’s models have been dangerously wrong and over inflated. He was on Dan Barreiro’s show at the start of last summer saying there would be 800k-1.6M deaths in 18 months conservatively if we took every preventative measure. Obviously we haven’t taken every preventative measure (South Dakota has taken none, basically), and we are still no where near those predictions 18 months later. However, he has been honest about cloth/surgical mask inefficiencies, so while his modeling has been terrible I believe he is still acting in good faith.
Anyone getting tested should tread carefully as you may be left with a big bill. My wife (who had covid and her vaccine) wasn’t feeling great, so she got a rapid test before a wedding (negative thankfully) and a few weeks later we got a $1,000 bill. We are still trying to sort out how that is possible and if we will have to pay, but something to be aware of.
There’s two debates here one about the actual pandemic and responses, and the other about civil liberties, censorship and other big brother tactics. I think it’s important to discuss the pandemic issues reasonably and in good faith, while being opposed to the big brother portions. I know it’s tough to separate the two, but it’s an important distinction imo.