As France's medical workers are honoured at a scaled-down Bastille Day ceremony in Paris, the nation enters a new phase. As the number of Covid-19 cases starts to slowly creep up again, François Picard's panel endorses plans to impose face masks in public indoor spaces and discusses a deal to increase pay for doctors and nurses. Did Emmanuel Macron strike the right tone? Does his new government have a handle on the kinds of reforms needed to truly bolster a long-neglected healthcare sector?