This work is a scientific analysis of the operational experience of COVID-19 disaster relief in
Heidelberg Germany between 2020 and 2022. Civil-military cooperation during the pandemic has
made valuable contributions to strengthening the resilience of society as a whole - probably at
a high price. The mitigation potential can be limited for all stakeholders if a healthcare
system is already overloaded in routine operations. In the future it will be important to
reduce bureaucracy to break the 'panic-then-forget' cycle through sustainable holistic
disaster preparation to establish timely operational readiness and to master the infodemic in
a world of social media.
