Vanessa Goodson went into quarantine in Auckland when her five-year-old daughter caught Covid-19.
After 16 days in the hotel, Goodson shares her experience with the virus that has put New Zealand through different levels of restrictions since March 2020.
"It feels amazing. I'm so happy to be home," she said.
Goodson told Checkpoint her five-year-old daughter, who was the first to test positive, had no symptoms while in quarantine.
"We actually told her we're going to a holiday house," she laughed.
Goodson said her daughter contracted the virus from the grandmother who was living with the family at the time. And the grandmother caught it from a family member's household.
She said she and her partner went into managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) as negative cases.
"I started feeling symptoms the second day I was there."
Goodson tested positive for the Delta variant of Covid-19.
"It started with a sore throat and then ... I was irritable, very confused and then ... hit with a headache that just didn't go away. It was downhill from there for a few days.
"It was not a nice place to be but I'm very happy that I battled through it."
She said she was ill for four days straight, then started to feel better on days five and six.
"But then it would hit me again and it would come back and then I'd be sick again. It would come in waves.
"The worst of what it feels like, to be honest, is it felt like early trimester pregnancy symptoms of just being nauseous and not wanting to eat.
"I lost my taste ... which was probably the worst, I didn't get it back for a while.
"The headache just wouldn't go away; no Nurofen or paracetamol would help."
She said she packed about eight bags to go to MIQ because she did not know how long she would be gone.
Goodson has shared her experience with Covid-19 on social media.
"Initially I was very hesitant about sharing the journey because it was still a little bit of shock," she said.
Goodson was a winner on The Apprentice Aotearoa and got a $50,000 investment in her business OMGNess.
Being a social media personality, she said people started noticing her not posting and asked if she was okay.
She decided to share her story because she said she could not find enough information on recovered Covid-19 cases on social media.
"I just thought, 'I'm just gonna go out there and tell everyone where I'm at, how this happened' and just reassure people that it's not as scary as the thought of it."
She said, although she still could not taste, she was allowed an air fryer in quarantine and in the last week of her stay she cooked some steak and pork belly.
