OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new state program will add nearly 100 new nursing home beds in three of Nebraska’s largest cities to help relieve some of the pressure on hospitals that are struggling with the surge in COVID-19 cases.

The state Department of Health and Human Services said between 78 and 98 skilled nursing care beds will be added in Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island starting with the first beds opening in Lincoln next Tuesday.

Nebraska Hospital Association President Jeremy Nordquist said those additional beds will allow hospitals to discharge some of their patients.

But the number of virus hospitalizations remains high across the state and hospitals are treating a large number of non-COVID patients. The state said 745 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 Tuesday, which was down slightly from the previous day’s 750 but still well above the level reported in late December.

Hospital officials have said they expect the number of patients to continue growing over the next couple weeks as the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus spreads through the state.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has risen over the past two weeks from 3,002.57 new cases per day on Jan. 10 to 4,088.57 new cases per day on Monday.

Nebraska health officials also said they plan to distribute 200,000 free at-home COVID-19 tests through local health departments across the state starting next week.