Patient
Thanks. That is interesting.
My first inclination was to think that infection from anyone’s nasal passages in an operating room would more likely come from a surgeon or other staff. The patient is usually on their back, at least lying down, and covered except for the immediate site of the operation. The staff are standing, moving around and at times over the patient. And masks are not perfect.
In any case, swabbing the nasal passages with povidone-iodine is easy.