I do want to thank the vast majority of people who are doing the right thing, following the advice of our public health officials, and staying home as much as possible, often at considerable sacrifice. To those responsible and good citizens, thank you for helping us save lives.

But we continue to see that as the weather gets better, people continue to ignore our advice and worse, flock to our parks to use closed playgrounds, closed parking lots, and gather together with others. This will further spread #COVID19 in our city and cost lives.

Not only does this misbehaviour put people's own health at risk, but it jeopardizes the safety of their entire community. That is why I have reached out to @TorontoPolice Chief @MarkSaundersTPS and City Manager Chris Murray to mount an ongoing blitz of our parks.

This is an all hands on deck effort. We have a #COVID19 enforcement team including @TOPublicHealth, @TorontoPolice, and municipal licensing.

We are calling back and deploying 200 bylaw officers along with public health and police officers, including the mounted unit. Around 15 sets of concrete blocks are being dropped at parking lots entrances including at Sunnyside Park.

We will also be asking parking enforcement to patrol neighbourhoods to help educate people about the dangers of #COVID19. Should people cut through parking lot barricades again and park their cars in closed lots, staff will take action.