No offense taken. I've had people tell me I don't know what I'm talking about when I'm expressing an informed opinion on something I've done for 25+ years. Such is the nature of the internet.
That having been said, I find Rafi is applying so many caveats that wouldn't otherwise be applied because it is in his nature to be cautious. Worrying about prolonged positive PCRs when the problem is really with false negatives. Stepping into the weeds about the extent of natural immunity when the extent of vaccination immunity also varies from person to person. Several studies show a solid amount of natural immunity following an infection, and as far as I know, those studies didn't harp on such things as the exact day in which you were actually infected. And if we're really talking about containing the spread, you also have the much bigger problem of asymptomatic infection.
I think a big problem with Covid policy in general is that the medical and public health experts are given too much deference. That's not because they're wrong or uninformed, obviously, but because they should not be crafting public policy, only informing it. I don't hold stuff against Fauci because his advice fluctuates with the science and the studies. I hold stuff against him because he has no business wading into the public policy arena. I mean, why is he answering questions about whether airliners should require masks forever? Public policy is for the politicians to decide. The scientists by nature are always going to be "but this" and "what about that" because that's their job. But they politicians have to think about the jobs and well-being of their constituents, balancing out what the public health professionals say with what the public can handle. Even the CDC admitted that they changed their quarantine recommendation to 5 days based somewhat on what they thought the public could handle.
So I listen and am not dismissive in the least. My concern is not that people don't listen to to public health officials, but that they'll be more inclined to dismiss them out of hand when politicians implement lockdowns and regulations that aren't usually needed. If, for example, Covid somehow morphs into something mirroring the contagiousness of Omicron combined with a 5% mortality rate, then certainly draconian measures would be needed, but since so many countries have been so heavy handed for two years already, people may not have the stomach for it. Their fuse is shorter, to say the least.
And I reiterate that Australia can do whatever the hell it wants, but I happen to think they're wrong for this particular instance.