Dangerous Delta Variant SURGING In Undervaccinated Red States

The Delta variant of COVID-19 currently accounts for just over half of the cases in the U.S., and in some areas in the Midwest, that number is as high as 80%. It's more easily transmissible than earlier strains the U.S. has seen, and while all three major vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson) are proving effective against serious illness or fatalities, unvaccinated populations are concentrated in Red states throughout the country, which could lead to ultrarapid superspreader events. There are also indications that the Delta strain may prove to make unvaccinated people who become infected MUCH sicker than the first wave of COVID-19 in the U.S.

We stream our live show every day at 12 PM ET.

We need your help to keep providing free videos! Support the Majority Report's video content by going to

Watch the Majority Report live MF at 12 p.m. EST at youtube.com/samseder or listen via daily podcast at

Download our FREE app

SUPPORT the show by becoming a member

We Have Merch!!!

LIKE us on Facebook

FOLLOW us on Twitter

SUBSCRIBE to us on YouTube

Sam Seder: I mean the two big stories going forward are going to be the impact of July 4th weekend on those states that have low vaccination rates the Delta variant, I think we said a couple of weeks ago it had doubled to 20%, it's probably closer to 40% now in terms of all cases around the country. It's a little bit tricky to tell because we don't have a great system to assess the nature of variants, but to the extent that we can tell, it seems to be somewhere around 40%.

It is anticipated that it will be the majority of infections in this country not too long from now, and the overwhelming number of deaths that are coming from Covid are now coming from unvaccinated people and to the extent that there have been breakthrough infections that have led to hospitalizations and illnesses that usually happens in the most vulnerable populations, that exist regardless of vaccination. In other words, older folks over 65, 75, over 85 who have been vaccinated. To the extent that there are any people — and there really are so few — who are dying who are vaccinated, it is people who are very elderly and very um... continue to be the most susceptible to Covid in our population broadly speaking.

And so, and just you know, a word of caution: There's a big report out of Israel that I know made my daughter nervous, that the vaccination there, the Pfizer vaccination I think I believe it is, 65 effective against the delta variant, which is still incredibly high. And that is just for breakthrough infections. Again in terms of serious illness from Covid and death very, very low — hospitalization and death — very low, no sense of whether your chances of getting a long-term Covid problem, long-haulers as they say, if you're vaccinated — we just don't know yet because the data is not in.

But that's going to be one of the stories going forward in the month of July because we're two week... when we get two weeks out from 4th of July, we remember how that goes. That's when you start to see the infections in the beginning of the hospitalizations.

And then the other story is within two weeks we're going to have a what is happening with the infrastructure bill is going to happen, essentially. The bipartisan bill still seems to be around, Mitch McConnell desperate to try and figure out a way to sink it and to the point where he's saying, even though the president has no strategy of linking and even though there are Democrats who have said, like, "I won't vote for this unless I get that as well," which is not a necessarily top-down strategy, Mitch McConnell has said we're going to filibuster the bipartisan bill unless there is no linkage and i just don't know how that's supposed to resonate with anybody, we'll see. He is, he is nervous about both bills passing. And just one note on...

Emma Vigeland: Yeah... no, just oh go on Sam, yeah.

Sam Seder: Well, I just wanted to say one more thing — that it is clear in the bigger infrastructure bill it seems like a lowered Medicare age is not going to happen. What is appears to be happening is an expansion of Medicare benefits as they exist today. Unfortunate. Frankly, I would have liked both. And drop the Medicare age: 50, 55. Just getting more and more people into this single-payer system. But go ahead, Emma.

Emma Vigeland: Yeah, I mean if the Democrats are smart, they will essentially say — okay fine, I know that's a huge — if they're going to wrap whatever hard infrastructure was going to be in this bipartisan package and just put it in the reconciliation bill and then McConnell has no play.