The Left’s gallop toward tyranny took a great leap forward on Friday, when Santa Cruz County, California, mandated masks indoors, even in private homes. The mandate was issued in anticipation of the holiday season and went into effect a minute before midnight on Sunday night. 

So if you’re in Santa Cruz County today entertaining family or friends for Thanksgiving and you aren’t wearing a mask, you could run afoul of the local Stasi.

The county claimed that the measure was needed because “COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations increasing as we move into the holidays and winter months.” Yet area hospitals aren’t exactly being slammed: Santa Cruz County reported 213 Covid cases between November 18 and 25, and 77.96 cases per every one hundred thousand people; 70.8% of the County’s population is fully vaccinated.

This means that yes, if you reached out in kindness and invited the lonely old widower down the street to join you for Thanksgiving, you all have to mask up: “Masks must be worn in private settings, including your home, when non-household members are present.” The Stasi will be checking on you in the workplace: “To help assure compliance, all businesses and governmental entities must require employees to wear masks and post signage that is clearly visible and easy-to-read at all entry points for indoor settings informing the public of the mask requirement.”