Reality star and influencer Jed Duggar and his wife Katey posted this photo of their pregnancy announcement in a YouTube video. Photo / YouTube.
A US couple have been slammed for using a "tasteless" Covid joke to announce their pregnancy.
It comes as the United States has seen a surge in coronavirus cases, with the majority hospitalised for Covid complications unvaccinated.
Jed Duggar and his wife Katey announced their pregnancy in an Instagram and YouTube video earlier this week.
Duggar is a former reality star who appeared on 19 Kids and Counting alongside his large family.
The Instagram post shows the couple posing with a pretty standard sign which reads: "And then there were three. Baby Duggar due Spring '22."
In the caption Mr Duggar wrote: "She tested positive, but not for Covid."
In a YouTube video about their pregnancy the couple posed with a sign which repeated the "tested positive" joke.
Comments on Duggar's Instagram post for the pregnancy announcement have been limited but @withoutacrystalball blogger Katie Joy shared a post on Instagram criticising the joke.
"Even though a lot of people have made similar announcements like this – I find it so insensitive," she wrote.
Others agreed, labelling it "tacky" and "cringy" given the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Having 2 family members pass from COVID, I find this very tasteless and insensitive," one person wrote.
But others said the criticism went too far as they couple had only meant the pregnancy announcement to be a joke.
"I find humour in their sign. I like it. Congrats to both of them," one person wrote.
"A lot of people are using this phrase as ways of announcing," another argued. "Yes people have died and that's not a joking matter but dang, it's a pregnancy announcement … lighten up."
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