Maui Mayor Michael Victorino rescinded an exemption for King’s Cathedral to hold a Easter “drive-in” service after the county’s COVID-19 cases jumped.

In a letter addressed to James Marocco, senior pastor at King’s Cathedral, and posted on the Maui Police Department’s Facebook page today, Victorino noted the jump in the county’s recent uptick in COVID-19 cases and said a cluster of positive cases were linked to a church in Maui.

Victorino did not specify which church he was referring to, but in the letter said, “Please consider this a revocation, and suspension, of the letter previously issued to you that permitted car sermons at your church.”

Victorino also mentioned a recent set of emergency rules for the county — headlined by a pilot curfew — to further reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Marocco, in response, acknowledged Victorino’s efforts to slow the spread of the disease, but said, “I found it interesting that I received a statement made by the Department of (H)ealth that as long as we were practicing social distancing as mandated there didn’t seem to be a problem with having a drive in service as we were doing.”

He also acknowledged public concerns around the country regarding First Amendment rights to practice religion, and said that it is an “apparent discrimination” that people allowed to park at stores during the pandemic but not at churches.

“In the meantime since these issues have not been settled we will continue to honor your directive and have a drive thru service and hopefully be back in allowing people to enjoy worship in their cars at a future date,” Marocco said.