COVID-19 has made a strong case for anyone asking the question ‘Why should we strengthen public health services?’. Yet the rationale for investing in public health services actually goes far beyond strengthening preparedness to counter the next COVID-19 wave or the next unknown infectious health threat. COVID-19 has highlighted health inequities. Persons with preexisting chronic diseases often associated with lower socio-economic status were more likely to suffer serious complications or die from COVID-19. The mental, social and economic impacts linked to being under extended periods of ‘cocooning’(Cocooning is a term being used in the context of COVID-19 to refer to measures being put in place to safeguard the elderly and other vulnerable persons by keeping them indoors and physically distant from other members of society.) should also be considered. The 10 Essential Public Health Operations described in the European Action Plan for Strengthening Public Health Capacities and Services5 adopted by the WHO Regional Committee for the European Region in 2012 still provide a robust framework for the functions that public health services seek to cover. It is however timely to revisit the bigger picture, learn lessons from COVID-19 and use this experience to answer questions, such as ‘Where should public health services be anchored to be most effective? How can we build better bridges between public health services and clinical services, particularly primary care? How can we modernise public health services to exploit digital technology in a way that respects privacy and ethics? Finally, how can we ensure that we harness the effective and efficient practices put in place to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and how do we recover stronger and better?’These are important issues which will be considered within the European Programme of Work6 that is being developed for the WHO Regional Office for Europe in the coming years. Action on the wider determinants of health and bridging between the health services and the broader political, economic and social agenda is a key component of a highly performing public health service and needs to be bolstered going forward.