MILWAUKEE— In the wake of new a new study showing that 80% of white-tailed deer tested positive for COVID-19, some researchers say the impact on the overall population should be minimal.

"From what we can tell, it's not impacting the health of the animals that much," Tony Goldberg, a professor and disease ecologist with the University of Wisconsin, told Spectrum News 1 on Friday. "We certainly haven't seen scores of deer dead on the side of the road."

Goldberg went on to say that there are still questions about what the spread of the virus in animals may mean for its potential spread back to humans.

"We do not know if the infected deer can pass the virus on to humans, but of course that is the big concern," he added. "It's really not clear. We know that deer can pass it to other deer— that's been shown in experimental settings and with this new study, it's been shown to be happening in the wild."

You can watch the entire interview above.