Coronavirus news and updates from Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak region, and elsewhere in Colorado and the U.S.

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– Former CNN talk show host Larry King has been hospitalized with COVID-19 for more than a week, the news channel reported Saturday. Read more here.

– French police detained five people Saturday in an investigation into an underground New Year’s Eve rave party that drew at least 2,500 people in western France despite a coronavirus curfew and other restrictions. Read more here.

– A day after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced restrictions for places like restaurants and gyms will be eased in much of the state starting next week, some local public health officials said they were concerned about the move. Read more here.

– Coloradans age 70 and up are now a part of Phase 1B of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, joining moderate risk health care workers, first responders and frontline essential workers. Here’s how the vaccination process will work. Read more here.

– Gov. Jared Polis sought to avoid conflicting regulations when he moved to relax COVID-19 restrictions in 33 counties, he told Colorado Politics in an interview. Read more here.

– Sue Ok Dailey isn’t a nurse or a doctor, but every day for the past week, she’s been suiting up in a face mask, face shield, hair net and blue gown before she enters the doors of a Colorado Springs nursing home, where the coronavirus has taken more than 20 lives. Read more here.

– In Colorado Springs and around the world, coronavirus dominated headlines in 2020. Read more here.

– The Colorado Restaurant Association fired off a letter to Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday night after an updated prioritization list for vaccines was released earlier in the day showing that restaurant workers, who make up 10% of the Colorado workforce, appear nowhere on that list. Read more here.

– Gov. Jared Polis announced Wednesday he is seeking to ease COVID restrictions in all “red” counties, including the Pikes Peak region starting Monday. The change would allow indoor dining at restaurants and increase capacities at gyms. Read more here.

– The first confirmed case of a new, highly transmissible COVID-19 variant was detected in a Colorado National Guard member deployed to a nursing home in Simla, officials announced Wednesday. A second National Guard member is suspected of having the variant as well. Read more here.

– More than 120 staff members at Colorado’s two In-N-Out Burgers have been sickened with the coronavirus, part of an ongoing outbreak that has hit the Colorado Springs location particularly hard. Read more here.

– El Paso County and a coalition of other agencies announced they would pursue a path to open indoor dining, after first calling state requirements to costly for local governments and businesses. Read more here.

– Coloradans 70 and older are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday. But it will likely be four or five weeks before everyone in that age category will receive their first dose. Read more here.

– The Vail Police Department is looking for a man who is accused of punching another man in the face for refusing to wear a face covering in Vail Village. Read more here.

– Inmate deaths associated with COVID-19 more than doubled in Colorado prisons this month, underscoring continuing scrutiny over whether enough has been done to help slow the virus’s spread behind bars. Read more here.