From what I understand, this lab and those like it likely have/had a large backlog of samples they had received from field researchers but had not yet had an op

From what I understand, this lab and those like it likely have/had a large backlog of samples they had received from field researchers but had not yet had an opportunity to identify, sequence, or otherwise mess around with. A procedural error in handling a sample in that backlog could have occurred, at least in theory.