Real-estate mogul Barry Sternlicht said warned that the threat of completely destroying the U.S. economy must be weighed against the diminishing health risks from the coronavirus.

 “We have to get going. The cost is too great. The government can’t carry a $23 trillion economy,” he told CNBC.

“I actually think we have to reopen the economy. We have to do it ZIP code by ZIP code,” said Sternlicht, whose $60 billion Starwood Capital Group has interests in luxury hotels and malls among its many other businesses.

“You have to look at the social cost against the human cost, which I know is awful,” Sternlicht said, as more than 22 million Americans filed for jobless claims in a month.

“There’s a financial suicide and a death of small businesses and restaurants and the economy and the global economy that has to be weighed.”

Meanwhile, major U.S. business lobbying groups are asking Congress to pass measures that would protect companies large and small from coronavirus-related lawsuits when states start to lift pandemic restrictions and businesses begin to reopen, Reuters reported.

Businesses want to make sure that they are not held liable for policy decisions by government officials, should employees or customers contract COVID-19 once operations resume. They also want protection from litigation that could result from coronavirus-related disruptions to issues like wages and hours, leave and travel.

"These are practical things to reassure businesses that they can confidently move to implement a reopening," Neil Bradley, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce chief policy officer, said in an interview.

The debate over when to ease restrictions intended to slow the spread of the COVID-19 disease, which has killed more than 40,000 Americans, has recently entered a more politically charged phase with President Donald Trump voicing support for scattered street protests aimed at ending the restrictions.

Public health officials warn that doing so prematurely risks sending infection rates soaring and further taxing an overwhelmed healthcare system.

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