(Bloomberg) — Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said the spread of the delta variant of Covid-19 could keep some Americans from looking for work, potentially harming the U.S. recovery. “I was very optimistic the fall would be a strong labor market with many of those Americans coming back to work. That’s still my base case scenario,” he said Sunday during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “But if people are nervous about the delta variant, that could slow some of that labor market recovery and therefore be a drag on our economic recovery.” Fed officials took a step last week toward eventually scaling back their pandemic support for the U.S. economy. They held interest rates near zero and repeated a pledge made in December to maintain $120 billion in monthly asset purchases until “substantial further progress” was made on employment and inflation. But they also said that the economy had made progress toward these goals, and that policy makers would continue to assess progress at upcoming meetings. Economists took that as a clear signal they were leaning towards scaling back the bond buying later this year or early next, provided surging infection rates from the Delta variant of Covid-19 don’t stall the economy recovery. Kashkari, not a voter this year on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, said they were not there yet. “We’re about a third of the way back from where the hole was in December, so we’ve made progress but we are still in a deep hole,” Kashkari said. “We have 7 to 9 million Americans who are still out of work that we need to get back into the job market.” His comments dovetailed with remarks on Friday evening from Fed Governor Lael Brainard, who said “employment has some distance to go” to meet that test, noting that millions of Americans still remain out of work.In contrast, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told reporters earlier in the day that he wanted the central bank to decide in September to begin reducing its asset purchases. Nick Note: The recovery is over. We will still get good reports… the ones looking backwards. BUT as we get into fall it will be apparent to all we are in the biggest wave yet of the plague. They will not have to lock down. People hospitalized do not show up for work. And as they beg for a vaccines because they canot breath they will get very cooperative. And the FOX news commentators all vaccinated and tested reguarelly will change their anti vax marketing campaign. Its like Trump he can scream and yell he is presiden the the MR Pillow guy can spin Trup will be back in August… but none of this will happen. Reality has a way of biteing people in the ass. Mask up, vitamine up, get a booster shot when you can and test everyone who shares you air space….. Remember vaccinated people are super spreaders. So to my horror a vaccine certificate does not protest you… a simple 10 minuits test is the best protection you can get