COVID-19 Viewpoints

In its online forum regarding COVID-19/Coronavirus, FINRA stated that a loan received pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) does not necessarily trigger a disclosure on the Form U-4

In response to the spread of COVID-19, on March 23, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13910 (Order) to prevent the hoarding of health and medical resources necessary to respond to the spread of COVID-19 within the United States. Through the Order, the President delegated his authority under the Defense Production Act of 1950, 50 U.S.C. § 4512 (Act) to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Order authorizes HHS to protect scarce and threatened health care and medical items by designating particular items as protected under the Act (Designated Items). Once an item is designated, the Act makes it a crime for any person to accumulate Designated Items: (i) in excess of the reasonable demands of business, personal, or home consumption; or (ii) for the purpose of resale at prices in excess of prevailing market prices. In this post, we discuss four things to know in connection with the Order.

The CARES Act is the third significant piece of federal legislation recently enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This post focuses on the provisions of the CARES Act that affect welfare benefit plans.

On the heels of codifying 940 CMR 35.00, the “Unfair and Deceptive Debt Collection Practices During the State of Emergency Caused by COVID-19” (the “Emergency Regulations”), Attorney General Maura Healey issued guidance on April 3, 2020 “to provide clarity with regard to frequently asked questions concerning the Emergency Regulations[.]”

This article discusses the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program, including eligibility; impacts on debt service, capital structure, and strategic planning; and potential obstacles under existing debt and other agreements.

The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose have each adopted paid sick leave measures to assist workers not covered by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act during the COVID-19 crisis.

Last Tuesday, we blogged about the arrest of the owner of a Georgia-based marketing company who was charged with health care fraud and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute. The government has alleged that laboratories paid the company kickbacks for Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing leads.

The very next day, the United States Attorney’s Office in San Antonio, Texas charged 39 year-old Christopher Perez with allegedly perpetuating a COVID-19-related hoax by posting a false threat on Facebook in which he claimed to have paid someone to spread COVID-19 at grocery stores in Texas. These prompt actions to implement Attorney General William Barr’s March 16 call to prioritize the detection, investigation, and detection of all criminal conduct related to the COVID-19 pandemic caused us to wonder what the federal government is doing about enforcement. The answer is: a lot.

The Federal Reserve (Fed) announced that it is modifying this year's stress test to reflect how banks have performed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read about the temporary suspension of NYSE's $15 million minimum market capitalization requirement and shareholder approval rules for certain capital raising transactions.

On March 27, 2020, the Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healy, filed an emergency regulation, aimed at what the office described as “prevent[ing] debt collectors and creditors from harassing our residents.”

On April 3, 2020, FinCEN issued its second notice related to the COVID-19 pandemic (Notice).

We recently provided some insights regarding how countries across the world are using data to fight COVID-19. The United States Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, has recently conducted a hearing with witnesses from academia, industry, and interested organizations on “Enlisting Big Data in the Fight Against Coronavirus.”

ML Strategies' analysis of federal and state legislative and regulatory responses to public health and economic issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the Department of Homeland Security has issued a rare joint alert with the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) regarding coronavirus-related threats. The alert warns that cybercriminals and nation -state hackers are trying to take advantage of the pandemic for criminal gain.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 25, 2020. In addition to the $2 trillion made available for medical countermeasure development, business relief, and other measures, the CARES Act amends the drug shortage reporting requirements and creates new requirements related to medical device shortages. With increased demand for products used to diagnose and treat COVID-19 patients and the stress placed on the manufacturing and delivery of vital products, having more information about drug, drug ingredient, and device shortages is becoming more critical.

In preparation for accepting applications for funding under the its COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which will make available $200 million in appropriated funds to support telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC has released a Public Notice with guidance on how eligible health care providers can ready themselves to participate. The FCC will release a separate Public Notice shortly announcing the date it will begin accepting applications for funding. Applications will be accepted through an online portal, the web address and opening date for which will also be posted on the FCC’s Keep Americans Connected page.

The food industry has been upended by the recent COVID-19 pandemic – restaurants and bars are scrambling to adjust to a new way of life after governors across America issued statewide “stay at home” orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants are now only permitted to serve take-out or drive-thru orders, and some restaurants have transformed themselves into neighborhood markets, or bodegas, selling food items not labeled for retail.