Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman urged the U.S. government to financially rescue companies that are struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.

“If the government lets all these companies go bankrupt and they do disgorge labor, the government is going to have to basically pay a lot of unemployment benefits,” Cooperman said on CNBC.

“Instead, they make low-interest rate or interest-free loans to these companies that are experiencing [a] liquidity crisis, the companies fix themselves up and they come back,” said the founder the Omega Advisors investment firm, which he turned into a family office at the end of 2018  

“To the extent that they’re helping these companies through a difficult period, they avoid the huge surge in unemployment and they will get a return on their investment,” said Cooperman, who argued the government’s rescue AIG and Chrysler during the financial crisis proved to be beneficial.

“The world’s better off because Chrysler survived. The world’s better off because AIG survived and they survived because of government assistance,” he said.

For many companies that have seen revenues collapse as the U.S. took steps to stop the spread of Covid-19, the situation is more complex, Cooperman said.

“The government is the lender of last resort. That’s a more preferred outcome than basically letting guys go bankrupt when something so totally unforeseen occurred,” he said.

Cooperman isn't alone in such thinking.

Peter Navarro cautions if the economy remains shut down the health effects over time could be worse than those caused from the virus.

The president’s trade adviser, who is in charge of the country’s medical supply chain, warned that a prolonged economic shutdown could lead to more negative health effects than the virus itself.

"It’s disappointing that so many of the medical experts and pundits pontificating in the press appear tone-deaf to the very significant losses of life and blows to American families that may result from an extended economic shutdown,” Navarro said in an interview with The New York Times.

“Instead, they piously preen on their soap boxes speaking only half of the medical truth without reference or regard for the other half of the equation,” he told the newspaper, “which is the very real mortal dangers associated with the closure of the economy for an extended period.”

Navarro was one of the first to wave warning flags about the economic costs of a global pandemic. In January and February, Navarro issued memos raising concerns that the coronavirus could cost trillions of dollars and infect millions of Americans.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that a decision on when to reopen the economy "will be made shortly!"

• Health or Wealth? Nations Pressured to Loosen Virus Rules
• Fed Member Warns Against Expectations That Economy Will Roar Back