“Exactly. There should not be a trade off (lives vs economy) because quick action will save both lives and the economy to great extent.”
It sounds like a failure to understand capitalism to try and reason this that way. The frame of mind that you need to be in is:
“We cannot be seen to be like those dictatorial Chinese and law abiding Asians who care about society at large because capitalism is about each man for himself because that is the way that when each is selfish they can advance the economy which is good for everyone even the beggars who can then receive the crumbs from the table of the rich. Moreover, it is important to get rich quickly and short term profit is more desirable than looking at unpredictable such as the long term economy, it is the here and now”.
If you look at it this way you can understand why Asian countries have done so much better than almost all European and North American countries. India under Modi and Brazil under Bolsanaro are both also following the individualist Western selfish ways.