We need to get back to first principles in infection control, the stuff Lister set up before antibiotics. Hospitals should NOT have crap like carpeting, curtains cloth chairs etc in the patient rooms or on the wards. It should be all tile, vinyl, blinds things that can be scrubbed down and disinfected. This stuff, infection control was all learned, and now gradually forgotten as we have gotten sloppy because of antibiotics.
My mother, a former nurse, is appalled at the general lack of concern for cleanliness in U.S. hospitals. She complains about the carpet on the floor, as you do; but her biggest complaint is that the hospital staff do not wash their hands before touching a patient.