  In this paper, we introduce a type switching mechanism for the Contact
Process on the lattice $\mathbb{Z}^d$. That is, we allow the individual
particles/sites to switch between two (or more) types independently of one
another, and the different types may exhibit specific infection and recovery
dynamics.
  Such type switches can eg.\ be motivated from biology, where 'phenotypic
switching' is common among micro-organisms. Our framework includes as special
cases systems with switches between 'active' and 'dormant' states (the Contact
Process with dormancy, CPD), and the Contact Process in a randomly evolving
environment (CPREE) introduced by Broman (2007). The 'standard' multi-type
Contact Process (without type-switching) can also be recovered as a limiting
case.
  After constructing the process from a graphical representation, we establish
several basic properties that are mostly analogous to the classical Contact
Process. We then provide couplings between several variants of the system,
which in particular yield the existence of a phase transition. Further, we
investigate the effect of the switching parameters on the critical value of the
system by providing rigorous bounds obtained from the coupling arguments as
well as numerical and heuristic results. Finally, we investigate scaling limits
for the process as the switching parameters tend to 0 (slow switching regime)
resp.\ $\infty$ (fast switching regime). We conclude with a brief discussion of
further model variants and questions for future research.
