Army immunology chief says many people probably caught COVID-19 but had no symptoms

Many Americans probably contracted the coronavirus but remained asymptomatic, according to John Dye of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

"So I think what is needed is widespread epidemiology, which is the study of your serum to see, did you see the virus, are you responding to the virus, so therefore you know that most likely if you got infected again you would not succumb or have any deleterious effects," said Dye, who is chief of viral immunology at USAMRIID.

He made the remarks while talking to Sharyl Attkisson on the latest episode of her "Full Measure" television program. 

Dye said the transmission rate for COVID-19 is about twice that as for the flu.

He said this coronavirus is more dangerous than other coronaviruses because it transmitted from an animal to humans.

"So, those coronaviruses that are circulating in human population, they actually have been in humans for a long, long time," Dye said. "This particular coronavirus jumped from an animal species, out of that species, and spilled over into humans. Those are the type of viruses that are possible pandemics or epidemics that can lead to large scale lethality."