New York Gov Andrew Cuomo has described his CNN host brother Chris as his 'mini me' and says that he is the favorite son while promoting his new book on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as cases and hospitalizations rise across the state.In a wide-ranging interview with Live with Kelly and Ryan on Tuesday, the Democratic Governor joked that he was his mother's favorite son, spoke of how widely watched his daily briefings were and said he has given New Yorkers 'unbiased facts' throughout the pandemic. Hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, who repeatedly praised Cuomo's handling of the coronavirus crisis during the interview, asked at one point who was the favorite son.Early on in the pandemic, Cuomo and his brother Chris repeatedly sparred with each other - either during the governor's daily briefings or on the younger Cuomo's CNN show - about who was the favored son. 'I was my mother's favorite son before my brother was born. I was the first born, I was the first loved. He came along, I don't begrudge him as a second son... You know, as a mini me, that's fine. The first is the best,' Cuomo said on Tuesday. .. Cuomo announced on Monday that there were 878 New Yorkers hospitalized with the virus, which was an increase of almost 60 patients since the previous day. His press briefings at the beginning of the pandemic earned him praise from some who suggested he was a calming voice amid lockdowns and widespread deaths from the virus.'I don't know that I was calm and cool, I was exhausted more than anything,' Cuomo said when asked on Tuesday about the effect his briefings had. 'People wanted the facts... so they could protect themselves. I wanted to give them the facts, unbiased, forget the politics, here's where we are, here's what we have to do. 'People were locked up... I think the briefings gave them a sense of continuity and they knew what was going on one day at a time.' Cuomo said that at one point there were 64 million people watching his briefings. 'I was telling the truth and telling people how I felt and being honest about my emotions because I wanted, that connection was important for me, and people would understand the information and they would do the right thing,' he said. Over the past few months, Cuomo has been praised for his calm but forceful demeanor, while also being accused of waiting too long to close schools and other indoor facilities, and criticized for the high number of deaths at New York nursing homes. A recent AP investigation found that the state's death toll of nursing home patients, already among the highest in the nation, could be significantly more than reported. Unlike every other state with major outbreaks, only New York expl