Essential employees in the state of Connecticut are asking Gov. Ned Lamont for the same workers' compensation protections as anyone else hurt on the job due to the threat of coronavirus.

Anna Karwowski, a cleaning worker at UConn Health, is still on the job. Grocery workers and prison workers are also still working despite coronavirus worries.

Workers asked Lamont to issue an executive order that would guarantee workers' compensation benefits to any essential worker who gets COVID-19.

"Our essential workers are vital, and they are going in at some risk to themselves," Lamont says. "How we can work that into workers' compensation, is something that I will figure out."

The move could result in a flood of expensive medical claims.

"There's going to be a cost; no question about it," says state Sen. Julie Kushner. "How we fund that, whether it's through federal dollars or through rainy day funds, I think we have to make sure this gets done and gets done now."

The Insurance Association of Connecticut says essential workers may already qualify for workers' compensation, but MacDougall-Walker corrections officer Collin Provost says "may" isn't good enough.

Joy Avallone, of the Insurance Association of Connecticut, tells News 12 in a statement, "The Insurance Association of Connecticut respects and appreciates the work that front-line health care workers, first responders and essential employees are doing to ensure the health and safety of our community during this unprecedented time. If an employee contracts Covid-19 through the course of their employment, she/he may be eligible for workers' compensation benefits under the current law. Our workers' compensation system is well-equipped to process their claims in an expedient and appropriate manner."

If essential workers are granted workers' compensation, it will most likely be temporary and last until the end of Lamont's public health emergency in September.