So...some perspective from a friend who runs pickup down in NC...tl;dr is that you can do your thing but think and be smart about it. There’s more to it than just wiping the disc down (besides...if we’re worried about the disc, shouldn’t we be worried about the people handling it, too? It’s not gonna pick up the virus from scraping the ground):
“In light of...disc associations around the country suspending their respective leagues, USA Ultimate, AUDL, PUL, WUL suspending their respective programming, and numerous schools closing or reverting to online classes, I think it is sensible we do not hold...pickup for at least the next few weeks. I can't force anyone to not play, but I think it would be irresponsible to do so at this time. I understand different people may feel differently about this, but please read this before commenting.
Here are two links which I strongly recommend reading before forming any conclusions about this, and gave me good perspective while I was forming my own opinions:
The term which repeatedly comes up in these resources and others is: social distancing. Even if we replace high fives with fist bumps, sanitize the disc in between points, and wash hands thoroughly before and after pickup, by nature of the sport there is still extensive contact in the stack, in the endzone, playing person defense, etc. It is not at all unreasonable to think that the virus could be amongst frisbee players currently and could spread through pickup. Social distancing, ie. limiting non-essential contact with other people, can help reduce the chances of that occurring.
One of the main push backs I've seen regarding whether pickup should be cancelled or not is, "How long can this go on? We can't stay at home forever." With the current state of the virus moving past the containment stage and into the delay or mitigation stage, it is very important that we do what we can right now to delay the virus's impact on hospitals and ensure individuals who need important care can receive it. We may not be able to eliminate the virus until the vaccine comes out (at best), but our actions as a community during these next few weeks or months are critical to ensure the spread of the virus is slowed as much as possible. Surely we can go without frisbee for that amount of time.
Another common counter I've seen is "The majority of cases are mild, people are overreacting and panicking." While it is true that there is unnecessary panic going around (ie. no need to hoard on toilet paper), it is also true that this virus is more dangerous and infectious than other viruses of the past, so it's not just your average cold. Additionally, while most cases do tend to be mild, certain demographics have very different risk levels than that of young, healthy adults. As such, the young, healthy adults who might not be personally affected still bear some responsibility to avoid carrying the virus to individuals facing more risk.
Therefore, my thoughts are that we should align ourselves with other frisbee organizations...and shelve pickup until at least those organizations begin playing again. That said, if you choose to play anyway, may I strongly encourage taking the following steps:
• Commit yourself to washing hands vigorously immediately before and after pickup. There is a restroom on Hooker and water spigot on Finley (bring your own soap for Finley).
• Sanitize the disc with wipes or spray every few points.
• Replace high fives with forearm or elbow bumps or air high fives.
• Limit unnecessary contact (maybe just throw around? or play zone instead of person, etc).”