A man directs vehicles as they arrive at a rapid COVID-19 testing site in Lowell, MA on April 07, 2020. On Tuesday, April 7, CVS Health will launch the operation of a rapid COVID-19 testing site in Lowell, the first of its kind in the state.

Thousands of people will soon be able to drive to a nearby parking lot, swab their noses and find out within minutes if they have the coronavirus.

CVS Health and Walgreens each opened one drive-thru testing location last month — but they're now expanding the number of sites and opening them to the general public. Their first drive-thrus were restricted to first responders.

Walgreens plans to open 15 more testing sites across seven states, starting this week. CVS opened up two new drive-thrus on Monday: one in Atlanta and one near Providence, Rhode Island. It also relocated its Massachusetts drive-thru to a site in Lowell that has capacity for five lanes.

Both are also using a new tool: Abbott Laboratories' ID Now, which can deliver test results in minutes.

The U.S. has lagged behind other countries in coronavirus testing. In mid-March, the pharmacy chains were among the retailers who pledged at the White House to help expand testing sites. This will help supplement the hospitals and government-run drive-thrus that are doing testing, too.

By opening additional drive-thru locations and expediting results, CVS Health and Walgreens are trying to increase the volume of tests — a tool that's become critical as business leaders and government officials try to determine when they can loosen lockdowns.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week that he's exploring how the hard-hit state could reduce risk as people eventually return to the workplace.

"This is not a light switch that we can just flick one day and everything goes back to normal," he said. "We're going to have to restart that economy. ... My personal opinion: It's going to come down to how good we are with testing."