King’s Cathedral in Maui, Hawaii, USA
Pastor James Marocco, of the Church of the Sacred Covid Super-Spreader, aka, King's Cathedral, in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii, has come out with what must rate as one of the most bizarre, if not the most bizarre, arguments for refusing to close his church to help contain a massive cluster of Covid-19 cases already traced back to services in his church. He is arguing that because the authorities didn't close the local hospital when it was being overwhelmed by cases, they should keep his church open too!
According to this report in HawaiiNewsNow:
A Maui church linked to a large cluster of COVID cases is refusing to cancel in-person services, despite calls to do so from the state Health Department.With characteristic disregard for the health and welfare of others, the church is to continue doing something they now know to be dangerous and which they have been warned could lead to the serious illness and deaths of not just those who attend these super-spreader events, but people in the wider community who may come into contact with them, and add to the stress and workload of the hospital medical staff who are trying to care from their victims and prevent them from dying.
It’s Easter weekend. It’s a very significant weekend for a lot of people, and we’re just really, really concerned about large gatherings. If we have large person gatherings for church services and whatnot, that’s just going to continue the spread.At least 55 infections have now been linked to King’s Cathedral in Kahului as part of a cluster first identified in early March.
Dr. Libby Char.
State Health Director
The state Health Department is asking anyone who attended events hosted by the church to get tested for COVID.
Health officials are also asking the church to cancel all upcoming in-person events, especially as Easter approaches.
The church is classified as an essential institution that is protected by the constitution of the U.S.“It’s Easter weekend. It’s a very significant weekend for a lot of people, and we’re just really, really concerned about large gatherings,” said state Health Director Dr. Libby Char. “If we have large person gatherings for church services and whatnot, that’s just going to continue the spread.”
It is there as a beacon of hope. It is there to encourage and help people during this time. That is why we continue to have in-person services, again following CDC guidelines and working directly with the county of Maui to be able to make sure we honor authority, but also exercise the right as a church to be able to meet.
... you can’t show that Walmart spread it to King’s Cathedral or vice versa. The accusation that it’s spreading from King’s Cathedral to the community is a false statement. There’s a relationship but you can’t prove that it goes from point A to point B, and that’s a very scary accusation.
Kelly Davison
Administrator, King’s Cathedral
Despite pleas to cancel in-person events, the church is unwilling to do so.
“The church is classified as an essential institution that is protected by the constitution of the U.S.,” said Kelly Davison, an administrator at King’s Cathedral.
“It is there as a beacon of hope. It is there to encourage and help people during this time. That is why we continue to have in-person services, again following CDC guidelines and working directly with the county of Maui to be able to make sure we honor authority, but also exercise the right as a church to be able to meet.”
In statements online Wednesday, the church said it was canceling an Easter egg hunt and production but said in-person church services would continue.
“We’re not going to stop doing our duty,” Senior Paster James Marocco told the Maui News on Wednesday. “I recall when the hospital was having horrible situations with COVID, they didn’t shut the hospital down.The church serves as a very important beacon of hope for our community in Hawaii. We have people who come in desperate need of our services and need help, encouragement and strength. We’re not going to stop doing our duty. I recall when the hospital was having horrible situations with COVID, they didn’t shut the hospital down. They did whatever they could to limit the spread and that’s what we’ve done.They did whatever they could to limit the spread and that’s what we’ve done.”
It’s not that we ignored what they said, but we do have a higher authority, and the point is that the Bible says do not forsake the assembling together of yourselves, so we have to obey the Lord. That’s who we are, but we have not ignored the CDC guidelines. And we have done our part in limiting the spread by not mandating that every member has to attend.
Marocco also told the newspaper that its cathedral in Kahului “maxes out” at 1,000 people because of social distancing rules. Other King’s churches on Maui attract an additional 2,000 people on Sundays.
The first cases associated with King’s Cathedral were identified March 7.
The state Health Department said at that point, it met with church representatives to recommend containment measures, including switching to virtual services.
But DOH said transmission continued to occur through in-person services, a youth conference and other gatherings organized by the church.
In the last 10 days alone, the cluster has doubled. Those infected range from 10 to 77 years old.
Officials said the cluster has also spread from the church to a school and a workplace,DOH does not disclose specific cluster locations unless there is an imminent risk to public health. Based on the findings of our investigative team, we believe disclosure is warranted to prevent further transmission of the disease.and they expressed concern about the potential for more “spillover” cases if more action isn’t taken.
Dr. Sarah Kemble
Acting State Epidemiologist.
“DOH does not disclose specific cluster locations unless there is an imminent risk to public health,” said acting State Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble, in a news release. “Based on the findings of our investigative team, we believe disclosure is warranted to prevent further transmission of the disease.”
In addition to getting tested, the Health Department is asking anyone who attended King’s Cathedral events in the past 14 days to monitor their symptoms.
Copyright 2021 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
And all Pastor James Marocco can do is compare the hospital, which is trying to make people well and healthy again, with his church which is actively planning to make more of them sick, or at least avoid taking necessary steps to prevent doing so.
The wanton selfishness and negligence of these arrogant, entitled fundamentalists in the name of Jesus, would be astounding if it wasn't so commonplace. As always, they cite the 'higher authority' of a god whom they have declared exists and whose opinions and 'authority' they alone get to decide for the rest of us. Very conveniently, that revealed 'authority' always works in favour of those who need to justify their antisocial behaviour in their quest for ever-greater wealth. God always seems to want exactly what they want and said so in a book written before anyone had heard of germ theory, let alone viruses.
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