My head immediately went to the understudies when I saw they were planning to start back up without him. Another good reason to do it is that the production is in its infancy and needs all of the performances it can get before opening. So think of it as a few extra days of rehearsal (including for the understudies who can def use it at this point) with a paying audience of whatever size and price. This assumes that they are in fact able to proceed per this plan.
