The direct flight requirement has now been lifted. The current list of transit countries is mostly comprised of places that don't have flights to China (e.g. Brazil), but I'm confident that they will add useful places soon.

My new question is: will we be permitted to do PCR tests at our point of origin, instead of the transit point? My SFO transit last year wasn't especially expensive because I stayed with friends, but the process sucked up 3 days of my time. And, I definitely don't want to spend 3 days in Dubai or Toronto later this year.

At any rate, things are definitely looking better for us, and it appears that the key issues are being addressed.