The real world is not as simple as "economy vs lives saved". Most of the businesses that are having problems because of COVID will not recover when the government "opens up". The government can say whatever it wants - people know the virus is out there, and many of those people will not go back to consuming like they did before the pandemic. Most people are not going to go back to dining out at restaurants, going to bars or taking flights all over the place just because the government says that the lockdown is over.

The only way people will go back to consuming like they did before is if the cause of the lockdown is gone. Releasing the lockdown will make the coronavirus spread more, and in turn could very well make the economic effects worse as people get more scared and consume less and travel less for a much longer period of time, as the virus continues to roam free.