Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading experts on infectious diseases in the United States, will receive “enhanced” security after receiving a number of online death threats from the ever present and vocal far-right conspiracy theory community.
Fauci, who is frequently seen briefing the nation in press conferences along with the president, has been a staunch proponent of measures such as social distancing and urging people to stay at home to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, which at the time of writing has claimed more than 5,000 deaths across the United States.
The extremely vocal online conspiracy theorist world have been claiming that the coronavirus pandemic has been over-exaggerated or is a hoax, and the measures that Dr. Fauci has recommended are intended to deliberately crash the US economy and undermine the US president. Many high profile Twitter personalities have urged their followers to film their local hospitals in a bid to demonstrate that the pandemic isn’t real, or has been hyped up by the media and public health organisations.
Other personalities have claimed – without evidence – that public health organisations are attributing murders and suicides as COVID-19 deaths in a bid to artificially fluctuate the number of deaths from coronavirus. Additionally, many theorists claim that asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19 that died of entirely unrelated conditions will also be attributed to the coronavirus, a claim that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny since asymptomatic carriers would rarely be tested for COVID-19.
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Other theorists claim that the coronavirus doesn’t even exist, or has been manufactured by “big pharma” for profit. Others claim that it isn’t a virus at all, rather the effects of “5G radiation”. Other theorists claim the coronavirus is a “tool” used to control the increasing world population. Many theorists also claim that Fauci is a member of the “Deep State”, a collection of often shadowy but influential figures that conspiracy theorists claim secretly run the world.
Dr. Fauci will have security with him at all times, including at work and at home, and will be protected by the law enforcement arm of the Department for Health and Human Services. The news was first broke by the Washington Post.