Jenene Crossan was the 37th New Zealander to get Covid-19, back in 2020.
Five years on from New Zealand's first confirmed case, she spoke with Checkpoint, about what that experience was like and how she was doing now.
"Five years I mean, it feels like it was a lifetime ago, but equally it's one that hasn't gone away.
"It's just an ongoing reality for me it's one of those things you look at and go where did the years just go by."
She contracted the virus while travelling back from a business trip in the United Kingdom before New Zealand's borders closed.
After going into self-isolation, she began to feel unwell and was soon hospitalised.
"There's nothing like being really sick in the spotlight doing it when an entire country is locked down and everybody is afraid at the same time not knowing what they're supposed to do."
Jenene Crossan was one of the first New Zealanders to get Covid-19. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Crossan had most of the usual virus symptoms which took about six weeks to clear up with the cough lingering for six months.
But it did not stop there.
"I then became really inflamed I had previous endometriosis and suddenly, even though I'd had a hysterectomy these things were flaring in me that just made no sense.
"Then that manifested into a whole raft of gut related issues the hypothesis from the immunologist is that the virus lived in my gut for a long time."
Her ongoing post-Covid health issues led her to set up the Long Covid Support Aotearoa group.
Crossan said her immune system still struggled and she lived with multiple immune conditions and fatigue.
Jenene Crossan at Piha Beach. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
"So, energy wise I get incredibly tired I'll go do something and then that's the only thing I can do that day.
"I have a muscle autoimmune condition now as well that is causing me fairly significant issue getting up, getting down.
"What's that going to mean for me in 10 years time?
"I try not to think too far ahead because it's too terrifying."
The pandemic saw one of the most significant decisions ever taken by a New Zealand government: Everyone was to stay at home and the country was locked down.
One of the experts whose advice led to that monumental decision and the introduction of the alert levels was University of Canterbury professor Michael Plank, who was the co-lead of the Covid-19 modelling group.
"It's a strange anniversary really I mean, in some ways it feels like only yesterday and then some other ways it feels like a lifetime ago."
Covid testing. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Plank said Covid-19 has not gone away - it has simply been added to the list of other common respiratory diseases we live with like influenza and it will keep evolving.
"So, we will see new variants, but the pace that those new variants are arriving and the impact they are having has reduced over time and it is much lower now than what it was even a year or two ago.
"You know, we're seeing less people being hospitalised, fewer deaths."
That was due to the population immunity that built up through vaccines and previous infections, he said.
Plank said we could also be due for a particularly bad flu season this winter if we get a similar strain to the northern hemisphere.
He was keeping a close eye on the H591 strain of avian influenza overseas.
"In birds, but also in dairy cattle and cases are spilling over in farm workers as well.
"So, we're not seeing any evidence of human-to-human transmission, but it's certainly a concerning situation because if it did develop the ability to spread between humans, then there's the risk that it could spark another pandemic.
"Now, I don't think anyone knows that that's going to happen for certain but it's certainly, something that we need to be aware of."
Plank said one thing we should take away from the Covid-19 pandemic, was the importance of being prepared for the next one.
"A lot of preparation and investments in infrastructure and in health systems that needs to happen so that we're in a better place to respond to the next pandemic because you know it is a question of when rather than if."
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