'Just strange': Fauci says family still receives death threats, daughters harassed

WASHINGTON -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious-disease expert, said he and his family continue to get death threats related to his role as a public health official during the coronavirus pandemic.

"I wouldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles ... that to me is just strange," he said Wednesday at a public forum hosted by the Harvard School of Public Health.

He said his three daughters have also been the subjects of harassment.

"[The pandemic] brings out the best of people and the worst of people. And you know, getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security is just, I mean, it's amazing," he said.

The 79-year-old epidemiologist said in April that concerns about his safety were serious enough that he now has security through the U.S. Marshals Service.

As COVID-19 conspiracy theories seem to spread as quickly as the virus itself, Fauci has been vilified by some conspiracy peddlers on the far right as a part of the anti-Trump deep state.

For example, a professionally made 26-minute video, titled "Plandemic," alleges that Fauci manufactured the virus and shipped it to China was watched more than 8 million times before the platforms took action.