Exclusive: Delaware Swim & Fitness Center’s November Inspection Report & New Information About Delaware Spa Party

Earlier this week, I put a post up about the Delaware Spa Party, a nudist party held at Delaware Swim & Fitness Center in New Castle.  As Delaware social media exploded for the rest of the week, many felt I was attacking a seemingly innocent event.  At that time, I was unable to respond accurately to those accusations.  In this situation with the Delaware Spa Party, there IS more to the story.  Those who want to believe this was just some harmless “naturalist” event can certainly choose that option, but recently uncovered information suggests otherwise.  Before we go on, I will say the rest of this article is most likely not safe for work.

Here are the facts:

Delaware Spa Party used the Delaware Swim & Fitness Center facilities at 2150 New Castle Boulevard for 25 years.  This came out when State Rep. Mike Ramone had his interview with Dan Gaffney from Delaware 105.9 last Wednesday.

Ramone said there were NEVER any complaints about the party.

Ramone said it wasn’t like there was a Roman orgy going on there.

Ramone said he did not like the suggested language on the Delaware Spa Party website and their social media account.

Delaware Spa Party closed down the party due to “unforeseen circumstances beyond their control”.  They took everything off their website except for that message and closed their Twitter account.

Ramone said the reason alcohol was banned at the Delaware Spa Party was because they were once a non-profit but no longer were.  Because of this, they no longer qualified for an alcohol permit.

The Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) received a complaint about the facility and DPH inspected the facility after the November Delaware Spa Party event on November 18th.

The New Castle Delaware Swim & Fitness Center was subject to an inspection by DPH on November 30th, 2017.

The Swimming Pool failed in the “disinfectant” category.

The Spa failed in the “satisfactory pH readings”, “satisfactory recirculation/filtration” and “spa pool temperature” categories.

The Therapy Pool failed in the “satisfactory recirculation/filtration” category.

The report stated “pool closed by Health Dept. and cannot reopen until re-inspection.”  The re-inspection occurred on December 1st, 2017.

In 2016, a forum on the website of jackinCHAT discussed the Delaware Spa Party.

 

Lower pH readings in a swimming pool decreases the ability for chlorine to kill disinfectants.

Chlorine kills bacteria and contaminants in pools so it is safe to swim in them.

Delaware Swim & Fitness Club failed in these categories during the November 30th inspection.

In an article on Livestrong.com, the author wrote about swimming pools and sexually transmitted diseases:

If you have AIDS or herpes, you won’t spread your condition to others merely through swimming in the same pool water, states the New York State Department of Health. However, avoid having sex in swimming pools or hot tubs as a matter of courtesy for others. Infectious diseases like AIDS and herpes viral infections require transfer of body fluids such as infected saliva, mucous or semen, regardless of location. Chlorinate pools adequately by correctly balancing chlorine and acid to amount of gallons in the pool and clean regularly.

In a recent article at health24 about viruses that have been medically found in human semen, the list is quite extensive:

The analysis of current medical literature revealed genetic evidence of 27 infectious viruses found in semen, including dread-inducing agents like Zika, Ebola, Marburg, Lassa fever and chikungunya, along with mumps, Epstein-Barr and chicken pox.

As mentioned above, Ramone did not like the wording on the Delaware Spa Party website and the insinuations my original article posed.  The above screenshot from jackinCHAT was from September, 2016.

The “no alcohol” ban at the Delaware Spa Party took affect as of the January 19th Delaware Spa Party event.

A search on Guidestar.org yielded no results for Delaware Spa Party.  Guidestar tracks tax filings for all non-profits.  It could very well be this non-profit exists under another name.

None of this information gives any indication Mike Ramone was aware of the inspection at the pool by Delaware Division of Public Health or that he knew the pool was closed until re-inspection.  Ramone did state in his Gaffney interview that he runs several businesses and he relies on his business managers to run his businesses.  But he did confirm he was well aware of the Delaware Spa Party leasing his facility for a quarter of a century.

Ramone stated the “naturalist” group began in New Jersey and was composed of “elderly” doctors and lawyers.

The Delaware Spa Party Twitter account (now closed), had open pictures of male and female nudity with a group of people with pumpkins on their heads (which I edited to take away those features).  Other pictures on their Twitter account showed younger women with very large breast which were scantily covered.

The purpose of these articles is not in any way politically motivated.  It is a public health issue.  The fact that Delaware Spa Party happened to use one of Ramone’s facilities was something I learned about after I first discovered Delaware Spa Party.  I first found out about the nudist event while doing research for an article about sex trafficking in Delaware in April of 2017.  The information sent to me by my source regarded the potential of a public health issue.  I bear no ill will toward nudists.  Other comments have dealt with the subject of swinger parties.  I am of the belief that what folks do in the privacy of their own homes is their business.  But I don’t believe a facility where children swim is an ideal location for those type of activities.  I have strong concerns about an event, that is more than it suggests, using a swimming pool that children swim in.  I recently obtained a copy of this inspection which is why I did not want to make any assertions alluding to the findings of that inspection in the original article.

If this group was exactly what Ramone said it was, I would have no issue with their event.  While many have blamed me for this event ending, based on the facts as I know them, it is my opinion the event was shut down because it was more than what it appeared to be.

The actual report is below:

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