Assessing the performance of regular surgical nose masks as a sampling method for SARS-CoV-2 detection in a cross-sectional study.

Nose masks are widely worn for protection against respiratory pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. They have been reported as possible substrates for viral sampling and testing for COVID-19 but, evaluations have so far been purposive; involving individuals known to have the infection and using improved materials on the nose masks to trap the virus. We investigated the feasibility of using the regular 3-ply surgical masks and, voluntary coughing as a mode of particle expulsion for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infections in a cross-sectional study at Ghana's first COVID-19 testing reference laboratory, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana.