Moruya Business Chamber president Tim Dalrymple worries the NSW Government's decision to lift travel bans from June 1 will create a new wave of coronavirus cases.
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He said, from a business chamber perspective, it was positive news, but feared the public would let its guard down.
Mr Dalrymple, who also runs Sportfirst Moruya, understood some people were desperate for restrictions to ease, for economic reasons.
"We can't shut down forever ... particularly if you work in tourism," Mr Dalrymple said.
"Eventually people need to be earning a living.
"(But) at what cost?"
With an older population and a lack of appropriate health facilities in the Eurobodalla Shire, "so far we've been extremely lucky" not to have fatal coronavirus cases.
"That's been the juggling act: lots of people dying, or save lives and bugger up the economy," he said.
"I don't know if there's any easy answer to that.
"You can't keep the restrictions on forever. Life has to go back to normal.
"It's really difficult. The whole thing is really difficult.
"We're in it for the long haul."
He said some Moruya businesses had shut for eight weeks, and suffered the financial consequences.
Other businesses had capitalised on the new normal.
"It's easy to say I've got reservations about restrictions being eased, because it hasn't been that bad for me business-wise," he said.
After the summer bushfires, some businesses would financially survive, but other's wouldn't.
"The problem is, we don't know who they are," Mr Dalrymple said.
"They won't ask for help.
"Some people are probably still in shock."
He said there was a lot of money being pushed into the economy.
"Eventually that government money is going to run out. What happens after that?" he said.
Businesses would not survive a downturn if they were already in debt.
"Predicting who those businesses are is impossible," he said.
"We can't control that, so it's just going to happen.
"It's not over."
