Sarah Palin dined indoors while unvaccinated— but what will the City do to the restaurant?

‍        

That Sarah Palin dined at an Upper East Side restaurant while not only unvaccinated, but in fact infected with COVID-19, is par for the course for the former governor who said, “It’ll be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot.” The focus has been centered on her bizarre and abhorrent choice to expose those around her to the disease, but it bears examining the potential steps the City might take against the restaurant’s owners, who allowed her to dine inside.

As the New York Times and other outlets have reported, a manager at Elio’s stated that that the restaurant had “just made a mistake” by allowing an unvaccinated person to dine indoors. While Palin seems to have walked away from the debacle suffering no more than punchlines, what might that mistake cost the restaurant?

To dine inside in New York City, one must show proof of vaccination, and failure to comply with this mandate can result in a $1,000 fine. A spokesperson for City Hall criticized Palin’s actions, yet it remains to be seen if the fine will be enforced.