As the U.S. continues to break new COVID-19 case and death records, a new study says a majority of cases are transmitted by people without symptoms.

The study, performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows nearly 60% of COVID-19 cases spread from those not experiencing symptoms.

The study was published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

According to the study, the 59% of people who are spreading COVID-19 without showing symptoms fall into two categories. One is pre-symptomatic people, which means they're spreading the virus before they show symptoms, and asymptomatic, which means they never feel sick.

The study says 35% of transmissions come from the pre-symptomatic group, while 24% never show symptoms.

Dr. David Hirschwerk, with Northwell Health, says this highlights the importance of wearing masks and social distancing because you could be infected with COVID-19 without knowing.

"There's still the potential for spread of infection, particularly in a time right now where there's such a significantly high prevalence of illness in the community," he says.

Helen Kayaian, of Hicksville, thinks this news won't affect most peoples' behavior.

"The ones that have been careful all along are not going to change, and the ones that are care-free, they take their chances," she says.