The control panel loads from Sony's servers and part of that process loads the manifest which includes the update screen, so no.  You might as well just leave it off until Duane releases The Fix.  That's what I've done.

If you need basic clock functionality in the meantime, unplug it and disconnect it from your wifi network (block the Dash's MAC address at the router) and turn it back on.  That will at least keep the control panel from loading and put it in the default "no network, here's a clock" mode.