The issue we're seeing with Coronavirus is that it's quite overblown for the young, but not at all for the old. So it would be possible to just proceed as normal without doing much damage to the economy, but that would basically be saying to the elderly "Sorry, grandma, you're screwed", so something has to be done to try to contain it. Also, not everyone under 70 really understands that they, personally, don't have much to worry about, so there's a perception of an apocalypse to come if nothing is done. As a result, measures are being taken to contain coronavirus that will, in the short term, damage the economy. Now, since it will just be a passing respiratory illness for most of the non-elderly, it shouldn't do too much long-term damage to strong economies, but economies that are already in trouble (whether it's obvious trouble or not) may be pushed into a recession.