Minnesota reported a one-day record of 1,158 confirmed infections with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 on Thursday, but blamed the artificially high number on inconsistent reporting by one lab that has delayed notification to some patients with positive cases.

Valley Medical had been inconsistent in its reporting of results during the pandemic, despite state requirements under its communicable disease reporting rule, the Minnesota Department of Health said in a statement on Thursday. After the Health Department expressed its concerns, the company turned over 19,000 test results from samples collected in the past two weeks.

Among those, 4,658 diagnostic tests and 265 positive infections are included in the daily COVID-19 numbers released on Thursday. Daily reporting numbers will be elevated in future days as well.

“Delayed reporting also means that 265 people who tested positive for COVID-19 were not contacted by health officials in a timely manner,” the department said in its statement. “This creates multiple problems — not only does it mean the person tested is unaware of their infection and the need to self-isolate to protect family, friends and close contacts, but it also delays our case investigation work and makes it harder to slow the spread of this disease.”

Burnsville-based Valley Medical had used its labs for toxicology screens for its pain management and addiction patients before converting in May to support the state’s crush of COVID-19 testing needs.

With drive-through sites in Burnsville, Minneapolis and Woodbury, the provider is collecting around 500 samples for COVID-19 testing each day, said Jerald Mackey, Valley Medical’s manager of operations.

Mackey said it is frustrating that his relatively new lab was called out by name and he understood why the Health Department wanted to explain the reasons for Thursday’s significant increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases. Changes in processes will prevent future backlogs, he added.

“It’s not the favorite way I guess to have your name put out there but I also think it’s important that transparency exists,” he said. “We understand the rule and we are following it.”

Minnesota generally requires the confirmation through testing of infectious diseases such as hepatitis or meningitis to be reported to the state in one working day. That requirement was extended in March to COVID-19 cases as well.

The confirmed infections bring the state’s total count in the pandemic to 72,390. The state also confirmed 13 deaths — the second straight day of double-digit totals — bringing that total to 1,806.

Two of the deaths reported Thursday involved people in their 50s and the rest involved people 70 and older. Seven of the deaths involved people living in private residences while the rest involved residents of long-term care and assisted-living facilities.

The state on Thursday reported that 305 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, including 139 people who needed intensive care due to breathing problems or other complications from their infections.

State health officials have seen some leveling off of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations this month, but are worried about a new wave following the reopening of K-12 schools and colleges this fall.

The latest weekly update on county-level disease activity showed a reduction in counties with COVID-19 levels high enough to recommend restrictions to in-person learning.

Only eight counties had infection rates in a recent two-week period that were high enough to discourage full-time in-person learning for elementary school students.

McLeod County posted the highest rate of 31.54 new infections per 10,000 people in the two-week period ending Aug. 15. Schools in counties with rates of 30 or higher are recommended to pursue a combination of online and in-person learning for elementary school students, but all online learning for middle school and high school students.

McLeod has now reported a total of 344 confirmed COVID-19 cases, partly due to an outbreak in a food processing plant in Glencoe.