NEW YORK—Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, whose defamation trial against The New York Times was supposed to start in federal court this week, has tested positive for COVID-19, causing the trial to be postponed until Feb. 3. Palin is unvaccinated and publicly stated in Arizona last month, “it will be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot.” U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff set a Feb. 3 start date for the trial if Palin has adequately recovered by then. Palin, 57, may return to court even if she tests positive, but has no symptoms. If she has symptoms, she may be examined by a court-retained doctor on Feb. 2. In 2018, Palin brought a lawsuit against The New York Times after its editorial board published an editorial about her, which she deemed defamatory. According to court papers, the genesis of the editorial dates back to 2011, when on …