Many front-line workers who caught COVID-19, applied for workers' compensation and were denied are reaching out to state lawmakers to plead for help.

"I feel like I've been in a war zone. This virus takes so much out of you physically," says Denise Rogers, a shuttle bus driver.

Rogers says she contracted COVID-19 while driving a shuttle bus at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and that her husband died of the virus.

Her workers' comp claim was denied because she couldn't prove she got COVID-19 at work, she says.

"Before I even got that paperwork to tell them what happened, I was already denied," says Dori Harrington, a nursing home nurse.

State lawmakers may change the law when they head back for a special session next month. The change would presume workers got COVID-19 at work unless their boss can prove otherwise.

Struggling small businesses worry it will cost them in higher insurance costs.

"A fair amount of the difficulty has nothing to do with workers' comp, and even in the best of circumstances, wouldn't provide the kind of relief that they need," says state Sen. Craig Miner.

According to the Connecticut Workers' Compensation Commission, 739 people have filed COVID-related claims. So far, only 4% of them have asked for a hearing after being denied.

Workers can also ask for an emergency hearing within two days.

"Obviously, if you're sick with COVID-19 and need medical attention, that's not something that can wait," says Stephen Morelli of the Connecticut Workers' Compensation Commission.

Essential workers say their growing medical bills can't wait.

Thirteen other states have already made the change.