Mayor John Tory says that it has become clear that physical spacing is “not something that is going to go away” anytime soon and that the city will have to think about ways to ensure that pedestrians can continue to have personal space, even as some of the restrictions that have been put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic are gradually lifted.

Tory made the comment to CP24 on Sunday morning as he discussed the city’s CurbTO program, which has used curb lane closures and signage to help ease crowding around pinch points across the city, such as the sidewalks outside grocery stores and drug stores.

Tory said that staff have already made changes to 10 “hotspots” that were previously identified and is looking at what can be done at another 88 sites that have been identified by members of the public as being prone to congestion.

He said that he believes the approach is a “common sense” way to deal with congested areas for now, though he said that further discussions will certainly have to take place about how to ensure adequate physical distancing in a “post-pandemic world.”

“I am not saying that the restrictions that we have in place today will continue indefinitely but I am saying that we are going to have to think in the post-pandemic planning about these things and that will include as well more allowance for people who want to walk or people who want to cycle and making sure that they can do that safely. Safely means both safely as it relates to cars and so on but it also means safely in terms of their health,” Tory said.

Tory has so far rejected calls to close streets outright to ensure proper physical distancing and has instead focused on more subtle measures, like the CurbTO program.

Speaking with CP24, he conceded that “physical spacing is not going to go away” and that Torontonians will continue to need space “whether that is inside a restaurant, inside a mall or at a green space.”

For that reason, he said that ensuring that spacing in busy areas will be a key part of the city’s planning as it prepares for the eventual reopening of the local economy.

“We are looking at all of this and we have taken nothing off the table in terms of the post-pandemic planning which we are very engaged in right now,” he said.