The former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, was spotted dining out at Elio's, a restaurant in NYC's Upper East Side, on Wednesday night, two days after she tested positive for the COVID-19 infection, The Daily Mail reported.
According to the paper, the 57-year-old mother of five tested positive on three separate express tests on Monday, which delayed the start of her defamation trial against The New York Times until next month. Palin has accused the paper and its former editor James Bennet of damaging her reputation in a 2017 editorial that linked her to a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that left six people dead and wounded US Representative Gabby Giffords.
A video of maskless Palin chatting with friends and enjoying dinner has emerged online.
Currently, CDC rules recommend anyone who tests positive for COVID needs to quarantine for at least five days – and wear a mask around others for another five days.
It's worth mentioning that Palin had visited the same restaurant last Saturday and dined inside, defying the city's requirement for restaurant patrons to check their clients' vaccination status.
Luca Guaitolini, the operations manager at Elio's, reportedly defended Palin's visit on Wednesday:
"Tonight Sarah Palin returned to the restaurant to apologize for the fracas around her previous visit...In accordance with the vaccine mandate and to protect our staff, we seated her outdoors," the manager said, quoted by The Daily Mail.
Palin is known for her anti-vaxx views. Speaking during a Turning Point USA rally in December 2021, she said that a comment once made by Dr Anthony Fauci about natural immunity to COVID dissuaded her from getting a jab.
"Do you remember he said that if you had COVID, you would be naturally immune? So at the time we were led to believe we wouldn't need to have the shot...Those of us who have had COVID, they're telling us that even though we've had it – we have natural immunity - now that we still have to get a shot...And it'll be over my dead body that I get a shot. I will not. I won't do it and they better not touch my kids either," Palin said during an on-stage interview with Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of TPUSA.