Performance characteristics of “lollipop” swabs for the diagnosis of infection with SARS-CoV-2

•A lollipop swab is a simple option for COVID-19 diagnostics.•4 studies show the positives and negatives of lollipop swabs for COVID diagnostics.•Lollipop swabs performed well in patients with acute COVID-19 infection. Common biologic samples used to diagnose COVID-19 include nasopharyngeal, nasal, or oropharyngeal swabs, and salivary samples. The performance characteristics of a sucked “lollipop” swab to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus is assessed in four small sub-studies. In each sub-study, a flocked swab was sucked for 20 s and submitted for PCR detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Across all studies, 52 of 69 (75.4%) COVID-19 positive participants had positive “lollipop” swabs. Twelve of the 17 COVID-19 positive participants with negative “lollipop” swabs had known corresponding cycle threshold values of >37 from their nasal/nasopharyngeal swabs, an indication of low viral load at time of sampling. In a paired samples sub-study, the sensitivity and specificity of the “lollipop” swabs were 100% and 98%. “Lollipop” swabs performed satisfactorily especially in individuals with acute infection of COVID-19. “Lollipop” swabs are a simple method of sample collection for detecting SARS-CoV-2 virus and warrants additional consideration.