On Monday, Sarah Palin tested positive for COVID-19, just before her defamation case against the New York Times was going to commence. A Manhattan federal judge announced the news in a courtroom. According to a report by Reuters, he also mentioned that she was unvaccinated. Later, it came to be known that Palin had dined at a restaurant in New York City (NYC) that is popular with celebrities. The manager confirmed that she had dined at the restaurant, on Saturday night.
According to NYC Covid regulations, patrons who dine in restaurants have to provide proof of vaccination before they can eat indoors. However, nobody checked Palin’s vaccine status, on Saturday night, at Elio’s. The manager of the popular Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Luca Guaitolini said in a statement on Monday that it was an “isolated incident” and called it an “unfortunate oversight.”
The statement also said that the restaurant adhered to and believed in the vaccine mandate. It was doing all that it could to protect its staff, regulars and the dining public. The manager also said that he had not worked on Saturday night.
He mentioned that Elio’s was reaching out to other patrons who had dined at the restaurant that night, when Palin visited it with a “regular” patron. He did not identify the regular diner.
Guaitolini also said that his current focus was on his staff who worked on the floor, Saturday night as well as their guests.
NBC reported that a City Hall statement chastised Palin for her behavior. It stated that the key to NYC rules had been made to protect all New Yorkers, including small businesses that powered their economy. It said that “Ms.Palin needs to respect small business workers and follow the rules just like anyone else.”
On Monday evening, Palin’s lawyers did not respond when asked for comment.
Palin was in New York City to attend a defamation suit she filed against the New York Times. The Times reported that Guaitolini said that “she probably just walked in and strolled over” to the table occupied by a longtime guest at Emilio’s He also said that regular diners were not asked for vaccination cards.
Officials have said that Elio’s was among the 25,000 small businesses that city inspectors had visited. They were found to be complying with Covid requirements. The visit by unvaccinated Ms. Palin was probably the first time they “just made a mistake” by not checking for Palin’s vaccination card as she was dining with a longtime patron of the restaurant, who remains unnamed.
