Many Americans heading back to the factory and the office as the coronavirus pandemic eases will soon begin to notice that their every move is being watched or recorded.

In Midtown Manhattan, thermal cameras will measure body temperatures as employees file into a 32-story office tower at Rockefeller Center. The building’s owner, RXR Realty, said it is also developing a mobile app for tenants to monitor—and score—how closely their workers are complying with social distancing. . . .

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Many office workers have become used to widespread security cameras and keycards that register entries and exits. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, buildings installed enhanced security measures, including logging in visitors and X-raying briefcases.

The arrival of Covid-19 is taking surveillance to a higher level, with some employers planning to track movements and gather personal information like never before in Western democracies. It marks a new chapter in the debate over privacy, and the trade-offs people are willing to make for safety.

Some companies now see the measures as perhaps the only way to reopen offices without risking a spike in infections, at least until a vaccine becomes available.

Building owners said the systems—similar to measures used in China that helped slow the spread of the virus—promote health and safety, so that employers can better monitor and enforce separation between workers, and quickly determine which employees could have come in contact with an infected colleague. . . .

Jason M. Schultz, professor of clinical law at New York University, who studies workplace monitoring, predicted the tools might remain after the pandemic. “Employers don’t really have any incentives to remove surveillance once they install it,” he said.

Employees can log into [one app being developed] at home every morning through a facial scan and take their temperature with a digital thermometer. The app sends the temperature to the employer with a timestamp. If it is below the fever threshold, the employee gets a pass for the day.

Are we ushering in an age of welcoming these kinds of intrusive policies and applications in exchange for a sense of safety? This giant leap in surveillance is monumental—the law of diminishing returns tells us that there is likely no going back. How are you processing g these changes? What comes to mind as you pray about these measures?

(Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal. Article by Konrad Putzier and Chip Cutter.)