Republican Sen. Rand Paul returned to Capitol Hill after recovering from the coronavirus and warned against both adding to the national debt and keeping in place strict lockdown measures meant to stem the spread of the outbreak.

"If you print up billions of dollars and give it to people, they are unlikely to spend it until you end the quarantine," Paul said in a Senate floor on Tuesday before pointing out that there are studies suggesting the mortality rate is much lower than previously thought.

"The virus is still dangerous," he said. "And we shouldn't ignore the risks, but we should put those risks in perspective."

“Our only hope of rescuing this great country is to reopen the economy,” Paul said, referring to the strict lockdown measures as “draconian.”

Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican who has been a longtime supporter of cutting government spending and decreasing the national debt, made the case that the massive coronavirus relief packages won’t have the desired effect as long as the economy is shut down.

"No amount of bailout dollars will stimulate an economy that is being strangled by quarantine!" Paul said. "It is not a lack of money that plagues us, but a lack of commerce."

"With the recent $2 trillion bailout, we are borrowing faster than we have ever borrowed before! Had we practiced sound budgeting in the past, we would have been better, significantly better positioned to weather this storm," he added.

The House passed a new small-business spending package on Thursday, amounting to $484 billion, that is now heading to President Trump’s desk and is expected to be signed immediately.