MID-HUDSON – Columbia County has completed vaccination clinics for children in all of its schools. About 5,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine have been given so far.

Since the beginning of October, the health department has received the results of eight confirmed lab tests for the H1N1 virus.

There has been an increase in school absenteeism lasting three to four days, but no schools have made changes in schedules or programs.

In Ulster County, influenza-like illness reported by health care providers, emergency departments and schools this past week have decreased slightly.

While most cases are mild to moderate, a small number of those hospitalized in Ulster County are experiencing more severe illness or complications caused by the flu.

With this weekend being the start of the holiday travel season, the county offered travel tips to stay healthy. They include people with flu or flu-like symptoms should wait to travel until at least 24 hours after their fever has subsided without using fever-reducing medicines and if people get sick while traveling, they should postpone traveling home until well.

The symptoms of 2009 H1N1 flu virus in people are similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.