Many Americans have transitioned to working from home. The SEC is no exception. Since the week of March 9, SEC staff have been teleworking and keeping the agency fully operational. The SEC has been operating on multiple fronts to address the challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. Relief has come in the form of guidance, orders, statements, rules and trading suspensions that have been issued by the SEC and its divisions on an almost daily basis.

A consistent theme has emerged in the SEC’s COVID-19 response: the commission wants to offer flexibility to account for unavoidable difficulties that have arisen due to the pandemic, but the law still applies. Now more than ever, investors need high-quality information to assess the impacts of COVID-19. Many of the actions taken by the SEC are aimed at providing relief to address operational and logistical challenges, but guidance and enforcement actions to date suggest that the commission will continue vigorously protecting investors and the integrity of the markets.