LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is extending its mask mandate as virus cases soar across the state, and all returning students and faculty will be required to take a COVID-19 test at the start of the semester.

Masks will be required indoors throughout the university’s campuses, including at sporting events.

“None of us wanted to start 2022 preparing for another surge of COVID-19,” UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green said in a news release. “But the omicron variant has rapidly taken hold, and we need to take these actions to help ensure the safety of our campus community.”

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has more than doubled over the past two weeks from 744.29 new cases per day on Dec. 20 to 1,734.86 new cases per day on Monday. And the state said 533 people were hospitalized with the virus on Tuesday, which is below the recent peak of 637 on Dec. 13 but still high enough to put pressure on Nebraska’s hospitals.

UNL also required masks indoors last fall, and Lancaster County had a mask mandate in place, but the county rule was allowed to expire before Christmas. The university had been planning to relax its mask rules somewhat for the spring semester but officials dropped those plans because virus cases have been surging.