Keeping a child entertained inside is hard enough on a rainy day, but imagine being stuck inside for a month.
12-year-old Valence has been in a managed isolation and quarantine facility for 19 days, but she still has a long way to go, despite being the "absolute perfect candidate" for self-isolation her stepdad said.
Kiwi Jacob Hassall and his Canadian wife and step-daughter were at the Holiday Inn MIQ facility in Auckland after returning to New Zealand from Canada.
The pair tested positive for COVID-19 on day two or three Hassal said, but their daughter has tested negative six times.
Valence was forced to stay locked up in MIQ for an extra ten days after her parents completed their isolation, as advised by the Ministry of Health guidelines.
Hassall left on the 18th day, while his wife Audrey successfully applied to stay with Valence in MIQ.
This means Valence and her mother will be in MIQ for a minimum of 28 days, if Valence tests positive for COVID-19 then their stay could be extended up to 42 days.
MIQ is "like prison" for a twelve-year-old Hassall says.
They have applied for exemptions twice, the second time the facility doctor applied on their behalf, but both were denied.
"It's ridiculous," Hassall said.
The family has a rural unoccupied house in Mangawhai where their daughter can self-isolate.
Hassall says Valence is in a fortunate position where she is healthy, has no symptoms and has her parents who are able to feed and take care of her at home.
Hassal said when the facility doctor who applied in support of them found out they were denied they said it was crazy.
The application was denied on the grounds that Valence was not fully vaccinated and is a close contact of a confirmed positive COVID-19 case and therefore a risk to public health.
Valence is 12 years and a month and a half old. She has had one dose of the vaccine but was not eligible to receive the second dose in Canada when they left because their country's rule was to wait six weeks between doses.
The government's COVID-19 website states "children under the age of 12 years and 3 months do not need a My Vaccine Pass, and cannot get one".
"There is no legal or regulatory requirement (vaccine mandate) for tamariki to be immunised."
Managed Isolation and Quarantine said they are unable to provide comment on individual cases without a privacy waiver from the individual/s concerned.
The MIQ website says exemptions are approved in "very few circumstances" and the threshold for approval is very high.
Most medical exemptions are granted for people to join unaccompanied minors, people in transit or those who require hospital care.
"Decisions on exemptions from managed isolation are not easy ones to make and we are very sympathetic to the distressing situations people applying for exemption from managed isolation are in," it says on their website.
New Zealand's MIQ system has faced a lot of backlash.
The National Party has started a petition for a "plan to end it".
While during Auckland's COVID outbreak in November experts including Michael Baker described the current MIQ requirements for tested vaccinated travellers as "inconsistent and arbitrary", given they pose a "lower risk of COVID-19 infection than Aucklanders".
Meanwhile, Hassell says Valence is occupied with school work, movies, lots of technology and half an hour outside a day if she's lucky.
