Sarah Palin, who just isn’t vaccinated towards the coronavirus, dined indoors Saturday evening at Elio’s, an Italian restaurant on the Higher East Facet of Manhattan that frequently attracts celebrities, regardless of New York Metropolis’s requirement that each one indoor company present proof of vaccination. She examined constructive for the virus on Monday.
“We simply made a mistake,” mentioned Luca Guaitolini, a supervisor for the restaurant, who was not working Saturday evening however confirmed Ms. Palin’s go to. In an interview on Monday, he mentioned that the restaurant checked vaccination playing cards for all first-time clients however not for regulars who come every week, and that Ms. Palin had dined with a longtime visitor, whom he declined to call.
“She in all probability simply walked in and strolled over” to the desk, Mr. Guaitolini mentioned. “We are attempting to unravel this.”
Ms. Palin’s legal professionals didn’t reply to a request for remark. Mr. Guaitolini mentioned that the restaurant was notifying clients that they’d been uncovered to the coronavirus, and that the workers can be examined this week.
Ms. Palin, the previous Alaska governor who ran for vp in 2008, had traveled to New York for the trial of her defamation lawsuit towards The New York Instances. The trial was set to start this week, however due to her constructive take a look at end result, it should now begin on Feb. 3. In response to the decide within the case, Ms. Palin’s legal professionals reported that she had acquired three Covid checks, all of which got here again constructive, and that she had not been vaccinated.
Shawn McCreesh, a options author for New York Journal, tweeted Saturday that he had noticed Ms. Palin at Elio’s whereas out to dinner on Saturday evening. (“My mother thought she was Tina Fey,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet.)
Brian Schwartz, a political finance reporter at CNBC, tweeted that he had additionally not too long ago dined on the restaurant, and that the workers there had not verified his vaccination standing.
New York Metropolis recorded 8,914 new coronavirus instances on Sunday, in keeping with a Instances database, 19,634 fewer than the Sunday earlier than. Hospitalizations, which lag instances, have risen 106 p.c up to now two weeks.
In mild of the extremely contagious Omicron variant, some eating places have imposed extra stringent security measures for employees than these required by the federal government, together with protecting Covid checks available and strictly implementing the carrying of masks. However at many of those eating places, together with at Elio’s, the only real requirement for diners is that they be vaccinated.
Elio’s, which opened in 1981 on Second Avenue at East 84th Avenue, is understood for its well-known clientele, which has included Tom Hanks, Joan Didion and Mick Jagger. An obituary for the restaurant’s founder Elio Guaitolini, who died in 2016, described the place as “a casual clubhouse for Manhattan’s social and media elite.”
His son, Mr. Guaitolini, mentioned Ms. Palin “is a controversial particular person wherever she goes. I simply hope she has a speedy convalescence.”