Toronto is painting circles in Trinity Bellwoods Park to help people with physical distancing

The grassy areas of Trinity Bellwoods Park will soon have white circles painted all over them in an attempt to promote physical distancing, said Toronto's mayor. 

Tomorrow, city staff will be at Trinity Bellwoods — where blatant flouting of physical distancing rules sparked outrage this past weekend — painting what's become known as "social distancing circles" directly on to the grass. 

The pilot project, which Tory first announced on Monday, may expand to other parks if proven effective in Trinity Bellwoods. 

People want social distancing circles in Toronto parks https://t.co/gNkcl10l1O #Toronto #SocialDistancing pic.twitter.com/ldGfyC4TCi

— blogTO (@blogTO) May 26, 2020

Tory said today in a news briefing that the circles will hopefully help "ensure compliance in a place where we simply have to do better". 

Trinity Bellwoods was jam-packed this weekend with groups of people who, despite repeated warnings from Ontario health officials, decided the sunny temps were worth putting fellow park-goers and neighouring residents at risk. 

The social distancing circles will be the first of its kind in the city, but not a novel idea worldwide: they've already made an appearance in San Francisco's Dolores Park and Brooklyn's Domino Park, where overcrowding led both cities to adopt the circles, inspiring Toronto to do the same.