Sarah Palin dined at a restaurant while unvaccinated, breaking NYC COVID-19 rules, 2 days before testing positive

• Sarah Palin, who is unvaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.
• Two days earlier she ate indoors at a New York City restaurant, despite the city's vaccine mandate.

Sarah Palin, who is unvaccinated, dined at a New York City restaurant two days before testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday, The New York Times and NBC News reported.

According to the reports, the former Alaska governor ate indoors at Elio's, a popular Italian restaurant on Manhattan's Upper East Side, despite the city's requirement that all indoor-dining guests show proof of vaccination before entering.

Luca Guaitolini, the manager of the restaurant, confirmed to The Times that Palin had visited the restaurant with a longtime guest, whom he declined to name.

"We just made a mistake," he told The Times. "She probably just walked in and strolled over [to the table]. We are trying to get to the bottom of this."

Guaitolini told The Times the restaurant usually checks the vaccination cards of all first-time customers, but not regulars. He also said that all customers who were dining at the restaurant while Palin was there would be notified, and that staff would be tested this week.

"Elio's adheres to and believes in the vaccine mandate, and all it is doing to protect our staff, regulars, and the dining public," the restaurant told NBC in a statement.

Palin's positive test was announced by US District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, who is presiding over her defamation trial against The New York Times, which was meant to start this week.

The defamation trial has since been postponed to February 3.

Palin accused the newspaper of damaging her reputation in a 2017 editorial linking her to a mass shooting in Tuscon, Arizona.