BREAKING: Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks out ... against lockdowns?

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has persecuted restaurants and businesses for staying open while issuing confusing rules about what businesses can be classified as essential and which cannot, has issued a tweet saying that:

"We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass. The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open. We must reopen the economy, but we must do it smartly and safely."

Cuomo implemented a curfew of 10 pm, demanded that restaurants be closed, and had refused to open them even when it became clear that COVID spread was 74 percent from private gatherings, and only 1.4 percent spread from restaurants.

Apparently having come to his senses, Cuomo spoke out against lockdowns as a viable tool to get COVID under control and maintain the economic engine of New York.

The tweet was tagged, SOTS 2021, meaning that this will most likely be a thrust of his State of the State Address.

Cuomo has come into conflict recently with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio over the state's proposed vaccine roll out plan, which places less emphasis on getting vaccines in the arms of the city's most vulnerable than on group designations for prioritization.

In response to Cuomo's rollout plan, de Blasio implemented his own plan so that more New Yorkers would get vaccinated quickly and no vaccine doses would be wasted.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.