comment: >
  
  Jeeze, at this rate there may be a second largest death toll since China’s famine from killing sparrows or maybe worse
context: Nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with COVID-19 on a single day this week, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing estimates from the government's top health authority.
  About 248 million people, which is nearly 18% of the population, are likely to have contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December, the report said, citing minutes from an internal meeting of China's National Health Commission held on Wednesday. >
  
  Looking forward to the next major mutation.
  I wear a mask every day when I go out. Obviously protecting myself and others is the primary reason, but also, the optics are important. We need to know that this thing is far from over. >
  
  We live in rural no where and wear well-fitted N95s when we go into town. Getting COVID, RSV or the Flu is just bad news --  being so far from a major hospital, the weather being so intense and not being able to get wood, stay warm etc if we are sick. It's just not an option. >
  
  
  not being able to get wood, stay warm etc if we are sick.
  
  I had to re-read that a few times to understand what you meant! >
  
  Sorry about that lol 😆 Now I can't stop laughing! For clarity, I meant our house is wood heated via a large stove. If both of us are bed ridden we'd likely freeze to death. >
  
  Pellet stove conversion? Those things look pretty neat and hands off. But I'm not super familiar with it as the primary heating source. >
  
  Most folks out here use diesel fuel (heating fuel) and Toyostoves But the cost can get high, so since the place is small we use wood, its everywhere on our property and our stove is crazy efficient. The modern ones are no joke. >
  
  Collecting, splitting, and stacking wood takes a fair  amount of planning, time, and energy. I commend your efforts! >
  
  It also saves tremendous amounts of money.
  Canadian here. When you can't afford convenience and have your health and a few decent tools and know what you're doing, burning self-harvested firewood is a super economical way to go. >
  
  How many acres of forest do you need to sustainably supply enough wood to heat a house year after year? >
  
  0 covid to 37 million covid in no time >
  
  Which is why they tried. But the irony of this happening to them right now is pretty ridiculous >
  
  I don't necessarily think it's ironic. Instead, it's an inevitable consequence of attempting zero covid. 
  When the controls are lifted, there's going to be a massive wave - exactly what we're seeing now. >
  
  What’s ironic is they spent the entire time trying so so hard to not have any cases and now that the rest of the world is kinda normalizing their relationship with covid China is getting ** >
  
  The cynical side of me thinks that the government is going to use this wave of infections to point fingers at the people who protested the lockdowns. In a sort of 'see? This is exactly what you wanted' sort of way. >
  
  Wait until their Luna New Year rolls around next month. >
  
  In fact, Lunar New Year 2020 was the reason why it spread across the country and then around the world. >
  
  I would argue their attempts to deny/downplay the virus and limit investigations is why it spread across the country, and then incompetence helped it spread across the globe >
  
  I’m in email correspondence with factories in China. I can confirm they’re going through a bad fucking time right now. >
  
  Any light on the horizon? >
  
  The guy I’m talking to is doing better! 👌 >
  
  To be fair I thought this was how it was going to be when everyone else was having out breaks. >
  
  I am afraid that it might be a really conservative estimate >
  
  If that is what they are reporting it is almost invariably worse. We won't ever know the real death toll. >
  
  So another go around for everyone in the world in 2023-24?