Jorah Kai Wood and his dog Benben at home in southeast China's Chongqing Municipality on December 20, 2022 (COURTESY PHOTO)  

As I sipped my morning coffee on December 27, 2022 in Chongqing, the news came across my desk that China will downgrade the management of COVID-19 from Class A to Class B on January 8, 2023. Since 2020, the country has classified COVID-19 as a Category B infectious disease but has managed it as a Category A disease, in the same category as bubonic plague or cholera, which has empowered local governments to impose lockdowns. After January 8, 2023, it will be treated in a similar manner to HIV.  

That means no more quarantine to enter China and no more sealing off of high-risk areas. I guess that means I'm flying back to Canada for the summer to see my family. I haven't seen them for years. That's a huge relief.

China started to ease its COVID-19 response measures in early December. After three incredibly successful years of "COVID-Zero",  also known as the dynamic zero-COVID policy, in China, we kissed our digital health codes goodbye and just went about our lives—some carefully, others quite carefree.

For three years, my wife and I have gotten pretty good at avoiding COVID-19. In the past week, every family member except my wife Xiaolin, my grandson Ethan and I, and every single one of my friends has caught the virus, just going about their days. So we try to walk the line between avoiding risky situations and not being afraid to live. We even snuck out to see Avatar: The Way of Water in a Chongqing theater on December 18, and so far, so good.

The good news is the prevailing variants are relatively mild for most vaccinated people. On the flip side, with a population of 1.4 billion, infections are still going to lead to serious illness and death for some people, mostly the elderly.

Christmas 2022 was quieter than most. The big public feasts were off. We got a lovely invitation to see our good friends, but all of them were still coughing and a few were still testing positive. We don't want to get COVID-19 for a plate of turkey and a few good laughs. My friend Liu Hang runs a pizza house and sent us a special dinner on Christmas Eve. It was absolutely delicious: roast Chicken,ham and cheese platter, and salad. We exchanged cards and gifts.

China has protected its people against the virus for three years with strong measures. And thanks to those measures, we had a COVID-free Christmas holiday with good friends in 2021. Now, it's time for us to pick up the pace of life, be outside, and come face to face with the virus.

We cannot control a pandemic and the course of a virus; all we can control is ourselves, so we focus on mitigating risks, improving our health with exercise, vitamins, a healthy diet, good rest, and lots of warm water. Bravery is not the lack of fear but steeling yourself against a mindless, terrified panic and some sense of resolve, despite your fear. So we will continue being COVID-19 super dodgers as long as possible, hoping the continually weakening variants will be milder and milder by the time it does corner us.

Since a month after the virus hit China at the end of 2019, keeping a diary has become part of my daily routine, with the stories published by New World Press as Kai's Diary: A Canadian's COVID-19 Days in Chongqing, China, in August 2020. When I look back to my first diary entry, January 23, 2020, I was afraid of the virus, the unknown, and not having accomplished my dreams of publishing my books.

After nearly three years of contemplation and putting in the work, I let go of fear and go on with writing more, including Amos the Amazing, a fantasy adventure about a Chongqing boy's journey through China's countryside. I am more satisfied than ever and ready to see what opportunities China holds as it continues to recover.As I sipped my morning coffee on December 27, 2022, in Chongqing Municipality, news broke that China would be downgrading its management of COVID-19 from the top-level Category A to the less strict Category B on January 8. Since early 2020, the country had classified COVID-19 as a Category B infectious disease, not necessarily life-threatening—like HIV infection, but managed it as a Category A disease, life-threatening or fatal to humans or animals when exposure occurs—like the bubonic plague or cholera. But from January 8 onward, all that changed.

That means no more quarantine to enter China and no more sealing off of high-risk areas. I guess that also means I'll be flying back to Canada for the summer to see my family, whom I haven't seen in years. That's a huge relief.

China started to ease its COVID-19 response measures in late November. After three years of the dynamic zero-COVID policy in China, we just went about our lives again—some carefully, others quite carefree.

For three years, my wife and I have gotten pretty good at avoiding COVID-19. Throughout last December, as a wave of infections swept across the country, every family member—except my wife Xiaolin, my grandson Ethan and I—and every single one of my friends caught the virus, just going about their days. So we tried to walk the line between avoiding risky situations and not being afraid to live. We even snuck out to see Avatar: The Way of Water in a Chongqing theater on December 18. And so far, so good.

The good news is the prevailing variants are relatively mild for most vaccinated people. On the flip side, with a population of 1.4 billion, infections are still going to lead to serious illness and death for some people, mostly seniors.

Christmas 2022 was quieter than most. The big public feasts were canceled. We got a lovely invitation to see our good friends, but all of them were still coughing and a few were still testing positive. We didn't want to get COVID-19 for a plate of turkey and a few good laughs. My friend Liu Hang runs a pizza house and sent us a special dinner on Christmas Eve. It was absolutely delicious: roast chicken, a charcuterie board and salad. We exchanged cards and gifts.

China protected its people against the virus for three years with strong measures. And thanks to those measures, we had a COVID-free Christmas with good friends in 2021. Now, it's time for us to pick up the pace of life, be outside and come face to face with the virus.

We cannot control a pandemic and the course of a virus; all we can control is ourselves, so we focus on mitigating risks, improving our health with exercise, vitamins, a healthy diet, rest and lots of warm water. Bravery is not the lack of fear but steeling yourself against a mindless, terrified panic and some sense of resolve, despite your fear. So we will continue being COVID-19 super dodgers as long as possible, hoping the continually weakening variants will be milder and milder by the time it does corner us.

Since a month after the virus first hit China, keeping a diary has become part of my daily routine, with the stories published by Beijing-based Chinese publishing house New World Press as Kai's Diary: A Canadian's COVID-19 Days in Chongqing, China, in August 2020. When I circle back to my first diary entry on January 23, 2020, I can see I was afraid of the virus, the unknown and not having accomplished my dreams of publishing my books.

After nearly three years of contemplation and putting in the work, I let go of fear and got on with writing more, including Amos the Amazing, a fantasy novel about a Chongqing boy's journey through China's countryside. I am more satisfied than ever and ready to see what opportunities China holds as it continues to recover.