NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci An estimated 6,000 people spent their lunch hour with Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist, headlined a noontime online lecture hosted by the University of Montana’s Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center. Fauci said people are fascinated with worst-case scenarios. “People have always asked me, what is your worst nightmare as an infectious disease scientist and public health official?” he said. It turns out his long-standing nightmare sounds a lot like COVID-19: a new, easily transmissible, respiratory-borne pathogen with a relatively high degree of morbidity and mortality. So far, the coronavirus has killed over 1,300 Montanans and 480,000 Americans, and has claimed 2 million people globally.