That's not so unreasonable given significantly reduced economic output for long enough would inevitably result in a significant number of deaths that wouldn't h

That's not so unreasonable given significantly reduced economic output for long enough would inevitably result in a significant number of deaths that wouldn't have otherwise occurred (and yes, this would also be an argument for not being overly hasty in winding down fossil fuel usage, but given there's almost no indication any country in last 20 or 30 years has been willing to do so at a "hasty" rate, I don't think it needs to be made). Plus measures to prevent Covid spreading had a lot more downsides than just being a brake on economic growth. Ultimately you could see it as some sort of balance between aiming for "quantity" vs "quality" of life, though of course many have had the quality of their lives significantly disrupted by becoming ill with COVID.